KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) aims to generate RM2.4 billion in revenue from the health tourism sector this year, which is expected to contribute an economic spillover to other industries of about RM9.6 billion.
Its chief executive officer Dr Mohamed Ali Abu Bakar said this includes industries such as tourism, hospitality, transportation and many others.
He said this confidence was based on data collected up to November 2023, when the industry achieved a revenue of over RM1.92 billion, in addition to the federal government’s move to grant up-to-30 days visa-free entry into Malaysia from citizens from China and India, which was effective December 1 last year.
“This means, the total amount (RM1.92 billion) not only exceeded the initial target for 2023, but also reached the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021-2025 target of RM2 billion, two years earlier.
“This will also set a new record for the highest achievement for the industry, surpassing the best achievement before the pandemic in 2019 of RM1.7 billion,” he told Bernama.
He said his team is optimistic that the country will see more medical tourist arrivals with the visa-free entry decision, given that China and India are also among the countries that contribute to the number of tourists in that category.
The visa-free entry decision also helps make it easier to facilitate the planning and processing of treatment or healthcare services, reduces the cost of applying for a visa, helps health tourists return to get a second opinion from specialists or for follow-up treatment and other treatment.
“The implementation of this visa facility is certainly timely because many countries, including China, have relaxed the conditions for entering and exiting their countries following the transition to the endemic phase (of COVID-19) which started two years ago,” he said.
Mohamed Ali said that over the past decade, Malaysia has been known as a destination for health tourists in the Asia-Pacific region.
He said Malaysia has recorded more than one million health tourist arrivals in 2023, which is an increase of more than 15 per cent compared to the total arrivals in 2022 of more than 850,000 people.
He also said that Indonesia is the highest contributor of health tourists to Malaysia, with a percentage of 70 to 80 per cent of the total number of such tourists.
Among the other countries contributing to medical tourism in Malaysia are Bangladesh, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapura, South Korea, the United States and United Kingdom.
— Bernama
