health tourism malaysia statistics

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Malaysia: an emerging global giant in medical tourism.

From 643,000 medical tourist arrivals in 2011 to over 1.2 million in 2018, Malaysia has grown its health tourism industry to become a leading global destination for international patients in Asia and beyond. From a revenue of USD 127 million in 2011, the medical tourism business generated over $362 million from the market in 2018. 

What is the secret to the phenomenal growth in Malaysia? Recent analyses suggest that there is solid governmental participation in the market and formidable public-private healthcare collaboration. The secret lies in the creation of an agency - the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) - saddled with the responsibility of promoting Malaysia as a medical tourism destination by revamping its international healthcare brand. 

Malaysia: Actively Expanding its Market Base in Medical Tourism

The MHTC, an agency under the country’s Ministry of Finance, is actively expanding the country’s medical tourism market base, targeting more international patients. While the main sources of medical tourism arrivals to the country are the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, China, India, and the United States, the MHTC is actively looking to set up strong market ties with the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and countries in the Middle East. 

The MHTC is promoting its 79 hospitals to Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, and Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. 

In addition to promoting its healthcare brand to other countries, the efforts of the council at boosting healthcare quality, affordability, and superior patient experience have led to a compound annual growth rate of 16 to 17 percent over the last five years. This is ahead of the global average of 10-12 percent and the Asia-Pacific’s average of 12-14 percent. 

The MHTC estimates that by 2020, more than two million international patients would visit Malaysia, doubling its revenue to approximately USD 680 million. 

Malaysia is now in strong competition with the giants of the ASEAN medical tourism industry; Thailand and Singapore. Slowly overtaking Singapore as a medical tourism destination despite the greater availability of cutting-edge technology and skilled professionals in Singapore, Malaysia still has Thailand as its strong competitor. Only in 2017, Thailand recorded more than 2 million medical tourist arrivals into the country.

Excellence in Cardiovascular Care and IVF

To compete with world-class hospitals and medical centers across Asia and beyond, Malaysia is carving a niche in cardiology and fertility treatments, with more than 33 advanced heart treatment centers in the country, including its renowned National Heart Institute . Its fertility centers also boast of success rates that are well ahead of the global average.  

The National Heart Institute remains a leader in cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment in Asia. It is the national referral center for cardiovascular diseases and it provides world-class care for simple and complex heart diseases. The National Heart Institute is harnessing its position in the Malaysian medical tourism market by collaborating with medical centers of excellence across the world including the Royal Papworth Hospital , the leading heart and lung treatment center in the UK, Hanoi Heart Center in Vietnam, and the University of Australia, Adelaide. 

According to MHTC officials, the institute is equipped with Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies to enhance diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases. With advanced procedural techniques such as multi-slice computed tomography, endoscopic vein harvesting, and heart-assist devices, Malaysia is projecting its excellence in cardiac care on the global healthcare stage. 

Furthermore, to serve the growing number of medical tourists who seek advanced care for cardiovascular diseases more efficiently, the National Health Institute has established its International Patient Center (IPC) . The IPC offers services to boost patient experience from departure to arrival. These services include visa and immigration services, pre-departure and post-treatment coordination, transfer of health data, and insurance claims.

The institute has expanded its frontiers into other parts of Asia, with liaison offices in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

Building Partnerships to Promote the Malaysian Health Travel Brand

Furthermore, the MHTC recently partnered with Air Asia Indonesia to promote Penang as Malaysia’s top destination for medical tourism, with Air Asia as the official airline for direct travel. According to the CEO of MHTC, Penang receives approximately 60 percent of medical tourist arrivals, with the state generating more than USD 120 million from medical tourism in 2017. This partnership hopes to expand the medical tourism market in Penang. 

Through the partnership, MHTC will arrange medical trips, including airport pickups, for patients traveling from Indonesia to Malaysia. Furthermore, Air Asia will also offer flight discounts for medical travel coordinated by the MHTC. 

Public-private partnerships are also one of the core factors responsible for the growth of medical tourism in Malaysia. For example, Sunway Medical Center , one of the largest private hospitals in Malaysia is at the forefront of promoting Malaysia’s position as a choice medical tourism destination. 

Sunway Medical Center provides cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic modalities across more than 60 specialties. With an international accreditation by the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards (ACHS), Sunway Medical Center has been recognized for its commitment to deliver the highest quality of medical care in Malaysia. 

The center prides itself for top-notch quality in cancer treatment. Recently, it was approved as a Designated Centre of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). 

The center also boosts its patient experience through its International Patient Centre, which offers online flight booking assistance, free airport transport, and visa extension to clients. The International Patient center also provides translators and interpreters in Arabic, Mandarin, Indonesia, and Japanese for patients who speak those languages. 

For its commitment to excellent medical care, Sunway Medical Centre was awarded the 2018 Medical Tourism of the Year in the Asia Pacific by the Global Health & Travel Awards. 

Malaysia is building many more centers of excellence like these and harnessing advanced technology to deliver world-class health care. With this phenomenal progress made in the medical travel landscape in Malaysia, the country is on the verge of setting itself apart as a destination of choice for healthcare travels.

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The Medical Tourism Magazine (MTM), known as the “voice” of the medical tourism industry, provides members and key industry experts with the opportunity to share important developments, initiatives, themes, topics and trends that make the medical tourism industry the booming market it is today.

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Medical Tourism in Malaysia: Prospect and Challenges

Background:.

Tourism, combined with the phrase medical, seems to be a new form of tourism which has gained huge popularity in recent decades. Though, a number of literatures available with regard to the tourism industry and the competitiveness of the destination, however, the major aspects which determine the satisfaction of medical tourists are hardly focused specifically on Malaysia. There is a lack of empirical evidence in this area of study which needs to be bridged. Hence, this study aimed at investigating the various factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia.

As the purpose of the research was to find out various factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia, so this study used Structural Equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis. The target population for this study consisted of the medical tourists coming to Malaysia with the primary intension of seeking medical procedures other than sightseeing. A total sample size of 266 was collected through non-probability judgment sampling during the period between December 2012 and February 2013.

The result confirms that destination competitiveness and service quality play an important role in the medical tourist’s mind towards medical tourism aspect in Malaysia. Thus, Malaysia need to promote various medical success stories together with the services they offer to attract more foreign patients.

Conclusion:

This study contributes to the theoretical development in the tourism industry by offering the structured relationship among various aspects contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia.

Introduction

Venturing abroad for medical care is not a new occurrence for the elites of developed countries. For this social group, the usage of medical care offshore is part of a standard design of intake of foreign goods and services, which in turn possibly cannot be observed. It has been promoted by many countries around the world owing to the fact that the idea produces these countries many benefits. Consequently, medical tourism is not just practical but also the economic approach for people to savor their vacation and obtain medical cure within the very same time. Tourism, combined with the phrase medical, seems to be a new form of tourism which has gained huge popularity in recent decades ( 1 ). This is due to multiple reasons such as; the increased demand for better healthcare ( 2 ), rising healthcare costs in the US and many Europe countries ( 3 ) and the tough visa regulations imposed by the US and many European countries due to the 9/11 incident ( 4 ). Hence, many countries around the world have started promoting medical tourism to gain from this emerging market ( 1 ).

Among the medical tourism providers, Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and India are viewed being probably the most likely places for producing medical tourism due to their natural recourses and excellent quality service together with reduced price ( 5 ). Due to the very low labor expense in these Asian countries, customers are able to save up to 40 to 60 percent comparing to US or Western European countries ( 6 ).

Nonetheless, the overall hospitality industry is under severe pressure due to huge competitive market ( 7 ). The author further added that, to remain competitive, focusing on customer’s satisfaction has become very important as they are core for their business success. Being part of the overall hospitality industry, medical tourism sector also requires special focus on their customers for future sustainability. Though, there is relevant literature available with regard to the tourism industry and the competitiveness of the destination, however, the major aspects which determine the satisfaction of medical tourists are hardly focused specifically on Malaysia. Thus, there is a lack of empirical evidence in this area of study which needs to be bridged. Hence, this study aimed at investigating the various factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia.

Destination Competitiveness

There is no agreed definition of the term “destination”. Hence, the task of defining and explaining what actually composes a destination is quite difficult to succinctly describe. International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) proposes that, “a destination is a travel objective which the consumer wishes to visit because of certain attractions it offers. These can be natural or manmade; existing before tourism or created for the tourist” ( 8 ). Seaton and Bennett supported a different perspective of the concept. They defined it as “the catalyst link that precipitates all other industries in the tourism sector” ( 9 ). Destinations are composed of a series of values, tangibles and intangibles, in a complex system of resources ( 10 ). According to Carter and Fabricius “Destination is a physical location where the tourist spends at least one night. It contains tourist attractions, products, and related services that are necessary to meet the stay of a tourist in the place at least for one day” ( 11 ). WTO stated that, destinations are composed of specific characteristics that attract visitors because of their “factual or perceived attractiveness” ( 12 ).

The promotion of destination is widely discussed in academic literature ( 13 – 15 ). Moreover, special emphasis has put on the destination promotion by various National Tourism Organizations (NTO) ( 16 – 18 ). Furthermore, an evaluation of its effectiveness has been held by many authors ( 19 – 21 ). Many studies; either explicitly or implicitly, examined the influence of marketing efforts of different NTOs on the choice of destination made by tourists. For example, Webster modeled the promotional efforts of NTOs through the presence of the major size of NTO’s offices abroad ( 22 ). Lim pointed out that the marketing expenditures as one of the major explanatory variables in the growth of tourism ( 23 ), and Webster and Ivanov have assessed the effectiveness of the promotion through the number of travel tourism fairs ( 21 ). In addition, due to the tremendous development in information and communication technology (ICT), information regarding the medical procedures is now readily available and easily accessible. Moreover, various promotional campaigns through internet by the hospitals have boosted the confidence of the foreign patients as they can get their needed information much easier and faster. Internet also enabled significant cost savings for both the patients and the hospitals ( 24 ). Moreover, increasing promotional campaigns by the governments and the efforts of travel agencies related to medical tourism has significantly boosted the demand for medical tourism worldwide ( 25 ).

There is also an enormous influence of marketing behind the new trends of medical tourism in Malaysia. Realizing its tremendous potential and its enormous economic benefits, the Government has and is still actively promoting medical tourism to various countries to induce foreign patients to seek medical treatment in Malaysia, all in the aim to make Malaysia a medical tourism hub in the region. Adding to this, the Malaysian government has also launched its official website ( www.medicaltourism.com.my ) to promote medical tourism through the internet. Moreover, to expedite medical tourism, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) was officially launched on 21 December 2009 with the purpose of restructuring the healthcare sector to attract more foreign patients ( 26 ). In addition, various promotional activities were held in different countries to boost the country image for Malaysia by various authorities (e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Tourism, Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia, Malaysian Association of Tours and Travel Agencies, Malaysia Airlines, and Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation) ( 27 ). Due to these extreme efforts, Malaysia has gained much popularity as a medical tourism destination in recent years.

H1: There is a significant relationship between destination image and medical tourism in Malaysia.

Service Quality

In this rapidly growing consumer-oriented health industry, quality has become the integral part. Without providing quality services, no business can survive. Bookman and Bookman stated that people from rich countries are traveling to less developed countries because of less expensive but high quality medical care ( 28 ). Quality is a very important concern for patients while planning to get treatment.

Grönroos focused on two major components of the service quality in the healthcare sector: one is technical or mechanical quality and the other is serviceable or functional quality ( 29 ). In the healthcare industry, technical equipment and other related medical diagnoses systems is core for patients’ checkup for their treatment. Functional quality measured by the service offered by the healthcare centers such as services of staffs, nurses, administrations and most importantly the doctors towards the patient and their assistants are of vital importance. It has been found, from different healthcare research, that patients mostly give priority to the functional quality rather than the technical quality though the technical quality may not be satisfactory ( 30 ). However, for the medical patient, the technical quality should be a prime object because the proper treatment of patients largely depends upon the proper diagnoses of the diseases through up-to-date equipment.

Thus, delivering quality services to the customers is a must in order to attract more foreign patients ( 31 , 32 ). Lam found in his study that many patients could differentiate the performance in caring and curing that are provided by the medical center service providers ( 33 ). Thus, the personnel support service are expected to be approachable, dependable, gracious, sincere and capable by the customers. Kiran also found in his study that the staff perceives quality as the core for customer satisfaction ( 34 ). Co-operative and helpful staffs will be able to instill confidence among the customer of the industry. Staffs have to provide error free recording for the patients.

There are a number of hospitals subsist in Malaysia which provide quality care with an affordable price. Moreover, competitive offerings are creating a center of attention for the customers not only from within the country but also from abroad. As the quality is a fundamental issue in medical tourism, the Malaysian government has also emphasized on improving the overall healthcare quality for both public and private hospitals with an aim to attract more medical tourists ( 35 ). Moreover, Malaysian government also encourages both private and public hospitals to acquire Malaysia Society for Quality in Health (MSQH) accreditation and quality (ISO 9000, 9002) certification with the purpose of meeting international standards ( 36 , 37 ).

H2: There is a significant relationship between service quality and medical tourism in Malaysia.

Customer Service

Medical tourism, a consumer-driven pattern ( 38 ) involves service sectors that posits itself as the low-cost, high-quality and comfortable access medical option for people around the world ( 39 ). On account of these kinds of qualities, this kind of new service industry provides obtained international attention, impressive to a lot of patients for considering it as a probable substitute. As establishing nations around the world positively promote tourism, heavy investment goes into replacing their healthcare system. For that reason, the quality of healthcare in the country can be enhanced and a nearby people, who constitute the mass of the individuals, find benefitted. Nevertheless, this investment and the particular demand inspired by the foreign patients’ position the particular risk of increased healthcare price and overlooked needs of the neighborhood residents, hence indicating pejorative to the healthcare system of the actual vacation spot countries ( 40 ).

With a option of nations around the world similar to Costa Rica, Brazil, Indian, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and a lot more, patients stay in order to consider their own options and choose a vacation spot for the healthcare requirements. Hence, customer service became very important where patients may draw a line between their choices among the available options. This becomes very important for patients that affect their choice of nation, medical facility and the doctor. However, healthcare is actually a very individual and critical service ( 41 ) and a whole lot of deliberation needs to be exercised in the particular decision of turning to medical vacation. Healthcare is actually an area where the end result of the actual service will be shared between the service provider and the particular patient. Hence, the proper allocation of time toward the patients should be consistent in terms of service. Therefore, individual focus should be given to customers. A certain amount of time should be provided to the customers for their proper treatment ( 42 ).

It is additionally a great emotionally depleting knowledge, more so in times when the actual healthcare intervention sought is a bit more complicated. A patient’s behavior, cognitive and emotive factors influence the actual readiness in order to co-create ( 43 ). As a result, achieving a profitable result can be simply achievable when the patient feels safe in the encompassing, and will be in handle of his emotions. Thus, relying on medical tourist is a subjective decision that is determined by mental and mental factors how the patient is encountering back then of decision making.

In line with the current trend of this customer oriented healthcare industry, Malaysian hospitals also emphasizes on the customer services in order to attract more medical tourists. Besides, to ensure sufficient accommodation for this rising number of medical tourists, Malaysian government has aimed to source an additional RM 335 million from the private sector hospitals in upgrading their infrastructures (e.g. increasing the number of beds) ( 44 ).

H3: There is a significant relationship between customer service and medical tourism in Malaysia.

Conceptual Framework

Basing on the literature discussed above, this study has linked the relations among the variable in the following diagram:

Materials & Methods

As the purpose of the research was to find out various factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia, so this study was descriptive as well as causal research ( 31 , 45 ). The target population for this study consisted of the medical tourists coming to Malaysia with the primary intension of seeking medical procedures other than sightseeing. Hence, this study did not consider the expatriates, general foreign workers and tourists who are living in Malaysia or come for other purposes (e.g. social interactions, visiting friends and families, official meetings, etc.). Moreover, due to the huge costs and unavoidable time constraints that occurred from this study and the attendant difficulties to get the required respondents as they were scattered in many areas of the destination, this study only considered the medical tourists those are receiving treatments within the hospitals in Kuala Lumpur area.

This study used non-probability judgment sampling technique for data collection. This is relatively considered more appropriate for this study because in many cases, medical tourists are not comfortable to answer or meet people or acknowledge their presence ( 46 ) and sometimes, patients are not in a condition to participate in any form of survey ( 47 ).

Total 300 questionnaires were personally distributed among the respondents during the period between December 2012 and February 2013 and total 266 were returned and found valid for further analysis. As SEM was used for data analysis in this study, thus, a total sample size of 266 was considered adequate ( 48 – 51 ). The questionnaire was developed in English. The questionnaire for this research was adopted from previous researches and few questions were also added. This study used a 5-point Likert scale in the questionnaire ( 52 – 55 ).

To strengthen the validity of this research, several recommended procedures were employed ( 56 – 62 ). A proper research design was employed and experts’ opinions were sought to achieve content validity of the measuring instrument. To achieve criterion validity, this study compared the measurement tool with previous widely accepted measurement tools. Finally, construct validity was employed through Cronbach’s alpha (α) test ( 61 , 62 ). A cutoff point of 0.50 was used in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to recognize the strength of the inter-correlations among the items. Finally, for the unidimensionality assessment, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted prior to assessing the validity and reliability ( 63 , 64 ).

The demographic Table 1 illustrates that out of total of 266 respondents participated in this study, male respondents are dominating with 69.5%.

Demographic profiles of the respondents

It was interesting to find out that most of the people who visited Malaysia for medical tourism were from Middle East which was 54.9% and this was followed by people from Asia (28.6%), Africa (12%) and others (4.5%).

Most of the patients who visited Malaysia for their treatment were in the Age group of 41 and above (47%). The highest income level group who earns around $3000–$4000 a month consists of total 33.8%.

Factor analysis was performed utilizing principal component analysis (PCA) to recognize the strength of the inter-correlations among the items used in the questionnaire. Bartlett test of Sphericity has been helpful to examine the constructs abilities. KMO has been used to gauge for the variables that had to be dropped mainly because of multicollinearity. Results ended up being hugely significant and the particular variable seemed to be ideal for this factor analysis (KMO value for this study is .818).

The consistency statistics states the degree of reliability among the variables screened. To recognize the strength of the inter-correlations among the items used in this study questionnaire, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed. Total three factors were extracted and the total variance explained is 68.394. This suggests that the three factors account for 68.39% of the total variance. The extracted variables were renamed as destination competitiveness (average factor loading 0.8474), service quality (average factor loading 0.8013) and customer service (average factor loading 0.7706) ( Table 2 ).

Factor loading of the measurement items

Furthermore, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was also conducted to verify the factor structure for assessing the factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia. Unidimensionality assessment is important to assess the validity and reliability. Unidimensionality is achieved when the measuring items have acceptable factor loadings for the respective latent construct. To ascertain unidimensionality, any item with a low factor loading was deleted and this process continues till the requirement is achieved. Hence, the validity for each measurement model was achieved as the R 2 of the observed variables were greater than 0.40, indicating a reasonably good convergent validity of the model.

Finally, the structural relation among the variable were identified through SEM which is presented in Fig. 2 . For meeting the level of GOF, this study has selected at least one fit indices from each category (absolute fit, incremental fit and parsimonious fit). This study considered RMSEA and GFI to meet the requirement for absolute fit, AGFI and CFI for incremental fit and Normed Chi Square for parsimonious fit ( Table 3 ). However, during the first run of the measurement model, the goodness of fit indices (GOF) was not achieved. Therefore, this study needed to modify further the model to meet the GOF. Therefore, it was necessary to look at the MI indices to find out the multi-collinearity problems among the items. It was found that, the MI value between e13 and e14, e14 and e16 and e5 and e7 were more than 15. Thus, these items were connected through the double headed arrow to make this “free parameter”. After solving the multi-collinearity problem, the model was then re-specified and the required level of GOF was achieved. The Fig. 2 describes the degree of relationship between factors contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia.

The results of model fit

Structural Model of the Study

Hypothesis Testing

The structural equation model was employed to test the relationship among constructs basing on the recommended fit indices discussed earlier. Goodness-of-fit indicates for this model were P = 0.068, Normed Chi-square = 2.986, GFI = 0.930, AGFI = 0.921, CFI = 0.930 and RMSEA = 0.057 ( Table 3 ). In figure 2 , it can be seen that, the regression weight for destination competitiveness in the prediction of medical tourism in Malaysia is significantly different from zero at the 0.001 level and the path coefficient is 0.63.

Therefore, H1 is accepted as destination competitiveness plays an important role that significantly influences the medical tourists in selecting Malaysia as their preferred medical tourism destination.

The regression weight for service quality in the prediction of medical tourism in Malaysia is also significantly different from zero at the 0.001 level and the path coefficient is 0.74. Therefore, H2 is also accepted as service quality significantly influences the medical tourists in selecting Malaysia as their preferred medical tourism destination.

However, the regression weight for customer service in the prediction of medical tourism in Malaysia is not significantly different from zero at the 0.05 level ( P = 0.386) and the path coefficient is also −0.05 ( Table 4 ). Therefore, H3 is rejected as this means that customer service does not influences the medical tourists in selecting Malaysia as their preferred medical tourism destination. This may be due to the reason that customer service may not be measured before availing the treatment in the selected destination. Hence, this can be considered as after sales services where medical tourists first have to avail the treatment in their desired destination.

Standard estimation of the main model

Medical tourism in Asia is growing rapidly. As many countries in Asia are offering medical tourism, thus, Malaysia needs a lot of improvement in order to be the regional hub for medical tourism. As medical tourism is a part of the overall service industry, hence, patients are the core for this business to grow. The findings of this study identified key dimensions for medical tourism to be sustained in Malaysia. Though, the findings proved that Malaysian government’s effort in promoting their destination image is quite effective, however, there is always room for improvement if they want to compete in this medical tourism field. The findings are very similar to what Helble and Johnston have discussed earlier [ 39 , 40 ]. Moreover, the effective promotional activities by the Malaysian government together with other private organizations have also influenced a number of medical tourists to visit Malaysia which is also similar to the previous findings (e.g. Chua; Shankar & Fazim) ( 36 , 37 ).

In terms of service quality, majority of the patients are satisfied with the current services offered by the Malaysian hospitals. The findings are similar to Lam and Manaf where the authors found service quality such as providing right information to patients, up-to-date information services, patients’ awareness towards value for the money they spent for their treatments and providing a world class services are few important indicators for retaining as well as attracting more medical tourists ( 33 , 35 ). However, interestingly, the findings revealed that in Malaysia, the current practices towards customer services are not very high. This has provided the needed indicators for Malaysian hospitals to seriously look into the matter and figure out the solutions in retaining and attracting prospective medical tourists in the near future. This argument is also supported in the previous literature (29–32, 34, 38). As, satisfying the customers should be the prime objective for countries promoting medical tourism, therefore, Malaysian government needs to identify the various needs through which they can aggressively promote them as a key player in the medical tourism field with an aim to attract and retain future medical tourists. Moreover, there is a need to promote various medical success stories together with the services they offer to attract more foreign patients. From this study, it is very much clear that destination competitiveness plays an important role in the medical tourist’s mind. They should understand that motives of general tourists and medical tourists are not same. In general tourism, tourists visit different places for recreation, relaxing or sightseeing. However, medical tourism is different in that aspect as tourist goes to different countries for minor or major surgical purposes which involve their personal health. Therefore, increased service quality together with better customer services and proper marketing strategies are of vital importance to attract and retain prospective medical tourists in Malaysia.

This study is very significant both theoretically and practically. This study contributes to the theoretical development in the tourism industry by offering the structured relationship among various aspects contributing towards the development of medical tourism in Malaysia. On the other hand, this study can help a number of researchers in the hospitality and Medical industry and the people involved in such industry that can use this study findings as an example for understanding on how a destination image, service quality and better customer service has strong influence on the customers’ perception and attitude towards the medical tourism aspects towards Malaysia.

Ethical Considerations

Ethical issues (including plagiarism, Informed Consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, etc) have been completely observed by the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Malaysia Tourism Statistics in Brief

Ministry of Tourism & Culture of Malaysia receives and collates tourism related data from multiple sources. These have been formulated, configured and analysed to provide industry players with concise and useful information such as facts and figures on the performance of Malaysian tourism sector.

You are encouraged to visit our MyTourismData Portal for more details.

The above data is just a glimpse of Malaysian tourism statistics and data. To find more details on Malaysia Tourist Arrivals, Tourist Receipts, and other tourism performance data, please visit MyTourismData Portal.

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021 – 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about systemic disruption to the country’s healthcare travel industry. In addressing these disruptions, MHTC has developed a 5-year industry blueprint to chart out recovery and rebuilding strategies to continue growing the healthcare travel industry as one of the country’s key export services.The blueprint maps out the strategies and framework for healthcare travel industry stakeholders until 2025; anchoring on high quality, affordability, seamless journey, accessibility factors at each touchpoint in the ecosystem.

Developed in close collaboration with relevant government and commercial stakeholders through initial Focus Group Discussions and Industry Validation sessions at the end of the project, the blueprint aspires to deliver the ‘Best Healthcare Travel Experience by 2025’ through our ecosystem to all healthcare travellers and continuously position Malaysia as the trusted and preferred healthcare travel destination.

To get a copy of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Blueprint 2021 – 2025, fill up your particulars below:

Watch the launch of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021 - 2025 by YB Khairy Jamaluddin which takes place on Monday 1 November 2021, 1.30pm here .

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Medical Tourism Statistics and Facts | Health-Tourism.com

An essential fact sheet and guide on medical tourism statistics, medical tourism: the full picture, medical tourism facts: why do people go abroad to get medical treatment.

• Approximately 2.5 million foreign patients traveled to hospitals in Thailand in 2013. In Bangkok's prestigious Bumrungrad International Hospital, over 520,000 international patients received treatment at the hospital.
• Singapore has been a growing medical tourism center in South East Asia with 850,000 medical tourists arriving in 2012. In January 2019 however, a report was released by RHB Research , the article quotes analyst Juliana Cai saying "As healthcare costs in neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Thailand are much lower, they have been attracting medical tourists from the region – thereby eating into Singapore's market share."
• Latin America , particularly Costa Rica and Panama , are fast becoming tourist spots for medical travelers with approximately 40,000 foreign patients seeking healthcare in Costa Rica in 2011.
• Due to its close proximity to the U.S., Mexico has become a top medical tourism destination with 40,000 to 80,000 American seniors spending their retirement there with a considerable number receiving nursing home and health care. According to Politico however, the recent events with Donald Trump and the wall could damage the flow of medical tourism across the border.
• After visitors number more than doubling in the last 5 years, Malaysia is also becoming a famous destination with 770,134 medical travelers in 2013. In 2016 Malaysia received numerous awards and global recognition from International Medical Travel Journal . Among the awards won by The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) were ‘Health & Medical Tourism: Destination of the Year’, International Hospital of the Year, ‘International Cosmetic Surgery Clinic of the Year, ‘International Dental Clinic of the Year’, ‘International Fertility of the Year’, and ‘Best Marketing Initiative of the Year’.
• India has become a medical tourism hot spot, with 166,000 international patients in 2012 coming to the country due to the selection of highly skilled doctors and improved medical infrastructure. In 2016 the numbers kept rising, with over 170,000 medical visas awarded . This represents only a fraction of the total medical tourists entering the country.
• South Korea has now entered the top ten countries in the world in terms of tourist volume. At the last available count in 2016, 390,000 people travelled to Korea as a medical tourist compared to the overall patient volume of 14 million.
• The UK has recently announced the need for improved quality standards for cross border care. There seems to be room for more private inbound medical tourism but there needs to be a change in the cap on numbers allowed currently.
• In Spain , the demand for medical tourism has skyrocketed, especially in the town of Marbella. Over 330 million euros a year are generated in the province. The Quirón business group is the biggest medical supplier in Spain and it treats up to 20,000 foreign patients a year, with most of the patients coming from the UK, Netherlands and Finland.
• As fertility decreases in the MENA region the demand for IVF and related services grows. In North Africa and the Middle East there is a $1 billion market, serviced by Turkey but also increasingly by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi.

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Health System

Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). A paid subscription is required for full access.

Number of medical tourists to Malaysia 2013-2022

The emerging leader of healthcare, the malaysian health travel brand, number of people who travelled to malaysia for healthcare from 2013 to 2022 (in 1,000s).

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2013 to 2022

The source did not provide date of publication. Release date reflects the date of last access.

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• Share of tourist expenditure for medical purposes Malaysia 2016-2022
• Tourist expenditure for medical purposes Malaysia 2015-2022
• Revenue from medical tourism Malaysia 2013-2022
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• Attitude towards the usage of telemedicine in Malaysia 2018
• Health information searched online by internet users Malaysia 2016
• Tourist arrivals to Malaysia 2014-2023
• Crude birth rate in Malaysia 2011-2021
• Number of beds in public and private hospitals in Malaysia 2017-2022
• Number of registered nurses Malaysia 2016-2022
• Major causes of death in public hospitals Malaysia 2021
• Mental health and substance abuse services industry revenues in the U.S. 2008-2018
• Total assets of UnitedHealth Group 2007-2023
• Net earnings of UnitedHealth Group 2007-2023
• Medical travel market size in China 2017-2021
• Medical Tourism Index ranking of Mexico 2020, by dimension
• Medical Tourism Index ranking of Colombia 2020, by dimension
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• Elderly with difficulty getting medical care after hours in Canada by province 2017
• Dominican Republic: key figures medical tourism market 2017
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• Number of GP practices in the United Kingdom (UK) 2008-2017
• Medical Tourism Index ranking of Argentina 2020, by dimension
• Share of patients that can be managed through virtual care in England 2018
• Number of registered dentists Malaysia 2015-2022
• Number of public and private hospitals in Malaysia 2017-2022
• Number of registered doctors Malaysia 2015-2022
• GDP direct contribution from tourism Malaysia 2013-2022
• Occupancy rates of rooms in hotels and similar establishments Malaysia 2012-2021
• Number of rooms in hotels and similar establishments Malaysia 2012-2021
• Inbound tourism expenditure over current account credits Malaysia 2012-2021
• Inbound arrivals by railways Malaysia 2013-2020
• Tourist arrival growth in Malaysia 2013-2022
• Tourism receipts value Malaysia 2014-2023

Other statistics that may interest you Statistics on

About the industry

• Premium Statistic Share of tourist expenditure for medical purposes Malaysia 2016-2022
• Premium Statistic Tourist expenditure for medical purposes Malaysia 2015-2022
• Basic Statistic Revenue from medical tourism Malaysia 2013-2022
• Premium Statistic Monthly number of international medical tourists in Mexico 2021
• Premium Statistic Medical Tourism Index ranking of the Dominican Republic 2020, by dimension
• Premium Statistic Number of health center patients in U.S. 2009-2021
• Premium Statistic Health centre patients in U.S. by insurance status 2009-2021
• Premium Statistic Top medical tourism countries by total index rating worldwide 2020
• Premium Statistic Dominican Republic: medical tourism revenue 2017-2018
• Premium Statistic Share of Canadians leaving the country for plastic surgery in 2016, by province

About the region

• Premium Statistic Average expenditure of Malaysian tourists per visit in Indonesia 2012-2021
• Premium Statistic Outbound travel expenditure in Malaysia 2015-2021
• Premium Statistic Number of Malaysian arrivals to the top ten long-haul destinations 2017
• Premium Statistic Attitude towards the usage of telemedicine in Malaysia 2018
• Premium Statistic Health information searched online by internet users Malaysia 2016
• Premium Statistic Tourist arrivals to Malaysia 2014-2023
• Basic Statistic Crude birth rate in Malaysia 2011-2021
• Basic Statistic Number of beds in public and private hospitals in Malaysia 2017-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of registered nurses Malaysia 2016-2022
• Premium Statistic Major causes of death in public hospitals Malaysia 2021

Selected statistics

• Premium Statistic Mental health and substance abuse services industry revenues in the U.S. 2008-2018
• Basic Statistic Total assets of UnitedHealth Group 2007-2023
• Premium Statistic Net earnings of UnitedHealth Group 2007-2023

Other regions

• Premium Statistic Medical travel market size in China 2017-2021
• Premium Statistic Medical Tourism Index ranking of Mexico 2020, by dimension
• Premium Statistic Medical Tourism Index ranking of Colombia 2020, by dimension
• Premium Statistic Medical Tourism Index ranking of Brazil 2020, by dimension
• Basic Statistic Elderly with difficulty getting medical care after hours in Canada by province 2017
• Premium Statistic Dominican Republic: key figures medical tourism market 2017
• Premium Statistic Italy: average price for first dental visit 2018, by treatment provider
• Premium Statistic Number of GP practices in the United Kingdom (UK) 2008-2017
• Premium Statistic Medical Tourism Index ranking of Argentina 2020, by dimension
• Premium Statistic Share of patients that can be managed through virtual care in England 2018

Related statistics

• Premium Statistic Number of registered dentists Malaysia 2015-2022
• Basic Statistic Number of public and private hospitals in Malaysia 2017-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of registered doctors Malaysia 2015-2022
• Premium Statistic GDP direct contribution from tourism Malaysia 2013-2022
• Premium Statistic Occupancy rates of rooms in hotels and similar establishments Malaysia 2012-2021
• Premium Statistic Number of rooms in hotels and similar establishments Malaysia 2012-2021
• Premium Statistic Inbound tourism expenditure over current account credits Malaysia 2012-2021
• Premium Statistic Inbound arrivals by railways Malaysia 2013-2020
• Premium Statistic Tourist arrival growth in Malaysia 2013-2022
• Premium Statistic Tourism receipts value Malaysia 2014-2023

Further related statistics

• Premium Statistic Percentage of U.S. population with employment-based health insurance 1987-2022
• Premium Statistic Medicare - number of skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. 1967-2021
• Premium Statistic Countries with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic International tourism receipts of India 2011-2022
• Premium Statistic Rate of new cases of tuberculosis in the U.S. 1960-2019
• Premium Statistic New cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. 1991-2019
• Premium Statistic Deaths by motor vehicle-related injuries in the U.S. 1930-2022
• Basic Statistic Deaths by prostate cancer in the U.S. 1950-2019
• Basic Statistic New cases of mumps in the U.S. 1970-2019
• Basic Statistic New cases of shigellosis in the U.S. 1950-2019

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• Percentage of U.S. population with employment-based health insurance 1987-2022
• Medicare - number of skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. 1967-2021
• Countries with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide 2019-2022
• International tourism receipts of India 2011-2022
• Rate of new cases of tuberculosis in the U.S. 1960-2019
• New cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. 1991-2019
• Deaths by motor vehicle-related injuries in the U.S. 1930-2022
• Deaths by prostate cancer in the U.S. 1950-2019
• New cases of mumps in the U.S. 1970-2019
• New cases of shigellosis in the U.S. 1950-2019

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Health Professionals & Hospitals

Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). A paid subscription is required for full access.

Number of private hospitals in Malaysia 2022, by state

In 2022, Selangor, Malaysia's largest state, had 54 private hospitals, the highest number among all the states. This was followed by Kuala Lumpur, with 36 private hospitals. With world-class private hospitals, Malaysia's medical tourism generated a revenue of more than 1.3 billion Malaysian ringgit in the same year.

Number of private hospitals in Malaysia in 2022, by state

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November 2023

Other statistics on the topic

• Number of hospital beds in the U.S. 1975-2022
• Top U.S. hospital operators based on number of hospitals 2023
• Number of all hospitals in the U.S. 1975-2022
• U.S. hospitals with the most annual ER visits 2022

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As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic.

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You only have access to basic statistics. This statistic is not included in your account.

• Instant access  to 1m statistics
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Business Solutions including all features.

Statistics on " Hospitals in the U.S. "

• Number of federal and nonfederal hospitals in the U.S. 1975-2022
• Number of community hospitals in the U.S. 2010-2022, by ownership
• Number of hospitals in the United States 2014-2029
• Number of community hospital beds in the U.S. 2013-2022
• Number of hospital beds in the United States by hospital size 2019
• U.S. hospital bed occupancy rate 1960-2021
• Community hospital beds per 1,000 U.S. population 2020
• Number of hospitals in the United States by number of beds 2019
• Number of hospital beds in the United States 2014-2029
• Number of available hospital beds per 1,000 people in the United States 2014-2029
• Persons with one or more hospital stays in the past year in the U.S. 1997-2019
• Persons with hospital stays in the past year by gender 1997-2019
• Persons with hospital stays in the past year by insurance status 1997-2019
• U.S. population with a hospitalization 1997-2019, by age
• Average length of stay in U.S. community hospitals from 1993 to 2020
• Total hospital admissions in the United States 1946-2022
• Daily average hospital census in the United States 1946-2019
• U.S. hospital care expenditure 1960-2022
• Expenses at U.S. community hospitals 2019
• Expenses per inpatient stay in U.S. community hospitals 1975-2019
• Expenses per inpatient day for for-profit U.S. hospitals in 2022, by state
• Expenses per inpatient day for non-profit U.S. hospitals 2022, by state
• Hospital Insurance Medicare benefit payments 2015-2022
• Total net patient revenue of U.S. community hospitals 2009-2019
• Shares of health services and supplies expenditures in the U.S. 2020, by type
• Share of hospital care in health services expenditures in the U.S. 1980-2020
• Number of hospital employees in the U.S. 2000-2023
• Percentage of persons employed in hospitals 2000-2022
• Leading U.S. hospitals by organ transplants performed 1988-2023
• Biggest U.S. hospitals based on their number of beds 2023
• Top hospitals for adult psychiatry in the U.S. 2023

Other statistics that may interest you Hospitals in the U.S.

Number of hospitals

• Premium Statistic Number of all hospitals in the U.S. 1975-2022
• Basic Statistic Number of federal and nonfederal hospitals in the U.S. 1975-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of community hospitals in the U.S. 2010-2022, by ownership
• Premium Statistic Number of hospitals in the United States 2014-2029

Hospital beds

• Premium Statistic Number of hospital beds in the U.S. 1975-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of community hospital beds in the U.S. 2013-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of hospital beds in the United States by hospital size 2019
• Premium Statistic U.S. hospital bed occupancy rate 1960-2021
• Basic Statistic Community hospital beds per 1,000 U.S. population 2020
• Premium Statistic Number of hospitals in the United States by number of beds 2019
• Premium Statistic Number of hospital beds in the United States 2014-2029
• Premium Statistic Number of available hospital beds per 1,000 people in the United States 2014-2029

Hospital stays

• Premium Statistic Persons with one or more hospital stays in the past year in the U.S. 1997-2019
• Premium Statistic Persons with hospital stays in the past year by gender 1997-2019
• Premium Statistic Persons with hospital stays in the past year by insurance status 1997-2019
• Premium Statistic U.S. population with a hospitalization 1997-2019, by age
• Basic Statistic Average length of stay in U.S. community hospitals from 1993 to 2020
• Premium Statistic Total hospital admissions in the United States 1946-2022
• Premium Statistic Daily average hospital census in the United States 1946-2019

Hospital costs

• Premium Statistic U.S. hospital care expenditure 1960-2022
• Premium Statistic Expenses at U.S. community hospitals 2019
• Premium Statistic Expenses per inpatient stay in U.S. community hospitals 1975-2019
• Basic Statistic Expenses per inpatient day for for-profit U.S. hospitals in 2022, by state
• Premium Statistic Expenses per inpatient day for non-profit U.S. hospitals 2022, by state
• Premium Statistic Hospital Insurance Medicare benefit payments 2015-2022

Economic impact

• Basic Statistic Total net patient revenue of U.S. community hospitals 2009-2019
• Basic Statistic Shares of health services and supplies expenditures in the U.S. 2020, by type
• Basic Statistic Share of hospital care in health services expenditures in the U.S. 1980-2020
• Basic Statistic Number of hospital employees in the U.S. 2000-2023
• Basic Statistic Percentage of persons employed in hospitals 2000-2022

Selected rankings

• Premium Statistic Leading U.S. hospitals by organ transplants performed 1988-2023
• Basic Statistic Biggest U.S. hospitals based on their number of beds 2023
• Premium Statistic U.S. hospitals with the most annual ER visits 2022
• Basic Statistic Top U.S. hospital operators based on number of hospitals 2023
• Premium Statistic Top hospitals for adult psychiatry in the U.S. 2023

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