| REPORT: Health Tourism Expected To Generate RM330 Million Revenue This Year |
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| Friday, 23 October 2009 17:06 | |||
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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- Health tourism expected to generate RM330 million revenue following a surge in the number of foreign patients to 430,000 this year, according to the 2009/2010 Economic Report released Friday. It said healthcare travellers surged almost 10-fold from 39,114 in 1998 to 374,063 last year, and had generated a remarkable increase in revenue from RM14.1 million to RM299.1 million during the same period. For the 2006-2010 period, the industry is estimated to generate total foreign exchange of about RM2 billion, it said, adding that that the bulk of healthcare travellers were from Indonesia, Japan, Europe and India. The healthcare medical services offered included screening services, diagnostics, cosmetic surgery, cardiology, ophthalmology, neurosurgery and gynaecology. In addition, the wellness aspects of healthcare services offered included homeopathy, spa, reflexology and traditional treatment. Under the second stimulus package, RM200 million was allocated to upgrade infrastructure at tourist spots, diversify tourism products, improve the homestay programme as well as host more international conferences and exhibitions. Besides the Malaysia My Second Home programme, emphasis was also placed on healthcare travel, education tourism as well as promoting Malaysia as a shopping and Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) destination. In the moves making Malaysia as a centre of excellence for education, various steps have been taken, including establishing Malaysia as a higher education mobility hub for international students, setting up Malaysian Higher Education Centres in selected cities worldwide and forging pioneering collaboration channels in international public and private institutions of higher learning. In addition, high impact projects will also be developed to cater specifically for education, for instance, the Iskandar Malaysia's EduCity in Nusajaya that will be developed to offer tailor-made programmes for international students. -- BERNAMA Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
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