South East Asia and Tourism Exchange and Outbound Travel Market
FEBRUARY 2017: Malaysia Healthcare spreads its wings in India for medical tourism. Indian nationals have been coming to Malaysia for tourism for the longest time and recent trends show that more and more are seeking healthcare treatment in Malaysia. The number of tourist departures from India is expected to grow to 50 million tourists by 2020, as reported in the Economic Times.
Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC)’s Chief Executive Officer, Sherene Azli says, “With the country’s new generation of middle class tourists set to grow even further, India is a unique and emerging travel market. Together with its local partner in India, Media Plus Services Pte Ltd, Malaysia Healthcare envisions capturing more Indians to seek treatment in Malaysia”.
Malaysia Healthcare has moved from strength to strength in the last few years. The country was named “Medical Travel Destination of the Year” at the Medical Travel Awards 2015 and 2016 by the International Medical Travel Journal, and “Best Country in the World for Healthcare” by International Living’s Global Retirement Index for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017. In 2011, over 18,000 Indian patients sought treatment in Malaysia and encouragingly this figure rose to over 39,000 in 2015 at a positive growth rate of 116%.
“We strongly believe that Malaysia has the right qualities for achieving greater heights in international healthcare travel: excellent quality in healthcare services, accessibility and affordability. To top it off, it is easy for travellers to communicate with health professionals here, where English, Tamil, Hindi and Chinese are widely spoken”, Sherene further commented.
“Matched with strong government backing and commitment from the private healthcare sector, Malaysia has everything it takes to achieve our ambition of being number one in Asia for healthcare travel. As Malaysia’s reputation grows to be the preferred healthcare destination of choice, we will press on in our efforts to sustain Malaysia as a global force to be reckoned with”, said Sherene further.
Under the patronage of Tourism Malaysia, India welcomed Malaysia Healthcare to take part in the South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) and the Outbound Travel Market (OTM) both held in India from 15-23 February 2017.
According to Sherene, both events are highlighted as two of the biggest outbound travel convention in India. She added, “It is the perfect opportunity for Malaysia to explore and gauge India as one of our potential markets. She further commented that this would also be a good platform to broadcast Malaysia’s quest to spread the Malaysia Loves You campaign with its 2017 theme, Share My Love, further spreading the essence of Malaysian Healthcare and Malaysian Hospitality”. For more details about the Malaysia Loves You campaign visit www.mylovesyou.com
In 2016, is it estimated that around 820,000 Indian tourists visited Malaysia. With an average of 14 flights per week flying direct from New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur, 21 flights weekly from Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur, and about 18 flights weekly from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur, India is the obvious country of focus for Malaysia Healthcare. Apart from India, Malaysia Healthcare aggressively conducts promotional and outreach activities in regional markets such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and China.