malaysia health tourism council

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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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Good recovery for Malaysia's healthcare travel industry

Friday, 24 Feb 2023

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Malaysia's healthcare travel industry recorded more than RM1.2bil in revenue in 2022. This successful recovery is due in part to the efforts made by key industry players and stakeholders, which includes the media.

“In 2022, during the recovery phase, industry players worked closely to implement proactive measures in providing continuity of care to patients while ensuring the safety of locals and international patients. These include media providing travellers with updated information on travel restrictions, standard operating procedures, and safety measures, allowing healthcare travellers to make informed decisions on their travel plans.

"As a result, the industry saw an encouraging number of healthcare traveller arrivals following the opening of borders in April 2022, signifying healthcare travellers’ trust in Malaysia as a safe and trusted healthcare travel destination, as well as a key indicator for positive industry recovery,” said Mohd Daud Mohd Arif, chief executive officer of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) in a statement.

Mohd Daud also listed a few significant milestones in healthcare travel, like the successful implementation of a medical travel bubble before the reopening of borders, launch of the industry blueprint, re-establishment of a medical e-visa and digitalisation efforts.

Even more efforts are being put in to enhance the industry, like the implementation of a one-stop-portal for healthcare travel and a Health Facilitator Training Programme, to equip international tour and travel agents with the essential knowledge and skills in becoming Malaysia “healthcare agents” abroad. Plans for raising Malaysia’s first Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital and the establishment of more strategic partnerships as well as driving advocacy for the Malaysia Healthcare brand are also in the works.

To celebrate the media’s contributions in helping to promote Malaysia’s healthcare travel industry, MHTC will again organise a Medical Travel Media Awards for both local and international journalists.

“Recognising the media’s role in growing and shaping Malaysia’s reputation as a healthcare destination over the past year, we are pleased to announce the return of MTMA, celebrating media’s contributions through excellent journalism and storytelling in promoting Malaysia’s healthcare travel industry,” said Mohd Daud.

The MTMA is one of the first global media awards that lauds the work and contributions of journalists, freelancers, and influencers in sharing stories that promote medical travel in Malaysia. There are 12 categories overall, including the Best Print Medical Travel Report, Best Online Medical Travel Report, Best Medical Travel Journalist of the Year, and Best Medical Travel Editorial Team of the Year – each of the category includes subcategories of Malaysian and international media respectively.

Local and international media practitioners can submit their entries from now until Oct 14. Finalists and winners will be announced at the MTMA2023 awards presentation ceremony on Dec 14. For more information on the submission of entries and MTMA2023, visit www.mhtc.org.my/mtma.

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Tags / Keywords: malaysian healthcare travel council , healthcare , wellness tourism , health tourism , medical tourism

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Malaysia remains emerging hotspot in medical tourism

13 Oct 2022

The medical tourism business generated close to RM1.7b in 2019, partly attributed to the country’s favourable geographical location 

Malaysia is increasingly recognised as a world-leading destination for medical and healthcare tourism, seeing its business revenue nearly triple in less than a decade. 

From a sales receipt of approximately RM572 million in 2011, the medical tourism business generated close to RM1.7 billion in 2019, partly attributed to the country’s favourable geographical location. 

Currently, Malaysia is ranked among the top medical tourism destinations in Asia, alongside India, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea. 

Association of Private Hospitals (APHM) president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said Malaysia is one of the best in South-East Asia in terms of cost and high standard of healthcare. 

“More tourists from Indonesia particularly pick Malaysia as their medical destination. Medical tourism also brings in a lot of revenue to other sectors like hotels and tourist attractions,” he told  The Malaysian Reserve (TMR)  recently. 

In terms of improving Malaysia’s medical tourism sector, Dr Kuljit suggested for the government to encourage private hospitals which actively treat medical tourists with the likes of tax incentives. 

He also noted that the proposal of increasing the GDP on healthcare to 5% should be done under Budget 2023, as the current expenditure on healthcare is not viable anymore. 

He added that a huge burden to the government is currently managed by the private hospitals in managing patients with financial resources and that private healthcare also further contributes to the country’s income through international medical tourism. 

“Private hospitals have close to 50 years of experience and would be happy to guide government hospitals in the process of being autonomous and ‘self-sustaining’ as suggested by the Health Ministry. 

“Our partnership will not be just confined to treating patients but also in other technical and knowledge sharing of healthcare delivery,” he said. 

Echoing similar views, Osel Group chief clinical and innovative scientist Dr Kris See said in Malaysia, medical tourism is a key contributor to long-term economic development. 

He highlighted that medical therapies are growing as a tourist branch, generating a variety of revenue streams in the country. 

Citing data from the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) and the Universiti Sains Malaysia, he said Malaysia has a total of 88 approved hospitals, eight of which are Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited. 

“Malaysia provides a rare combination of high-quality, low-cost healthcare, and an appealing vacation destination for health-conscious travellers. 

“Travellers to Malaysia can have their health checked and use facilities such as preventive wellness, spas, cosmetic and dental surgery, among others,” he said to  TMR . 

Dr See said the majority of the foreign patients seeking medical treatments in Malaysia are from Indonesia, with smaller numbers of foreign patients coming from India, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Europe, the US and the Middle East. 

He added that in 2008, Indonesians comprised 75% of all foreign patients receiving care in Malaysia, followed by Europeans (3%), Japanese (3%), Singaporeans (1%) and citizens from Middle Eastern countries (1%). 

By 2011, he noted that Indonesians comprised 57% of all foreign patients in Malaysia while the number of patients of other nationalities also grew. 

Additionally, Dr See highlighted that health insurance companies in Singapore have recently permitted their policyholders to be treated in Malaysia where services are cheaper. 

“Therefore, healthcare remains an attractive portfolio that Malaysia harnesses,” he said. 

If Malaysia plays its strategy right, Dr See opined, its country could take advantage of the increased health awareness during this critical time and promote Malaysia as a hub for medical tourism in Asean. 

He added that the government’s investment tax allowance has encouraged private healthcare facilities promoting medical tourism to invest in internationally recognised accreditation schemes and medical equipment to developing “world-class”, technology-intensive private health care facilities and ensure care standards considered necessary to attract medical tourists.

As such, he concurred that further incentives and tax allowances could be considered in this area. 

On top of that, Dr See said the MHTC, as the primary agency to promote and develop the country’s medical tourism industry, should continue to aggressively promote both online and offline campaigns about what Malaysia could offer in medical tourism.

“With Covid-19 infection reaching a stable plateau, our government agencies should come together and consider removing the mask mandate, except in high-risk situations, something which our neighbours, such as Singapore and Thailand, both medical tourism destinations themselves have done.

“The government could also consider allowing tax breaks or extra incentives for medical tourists in the event they contracted Covid-19 infection during their travel or treatment,” he said. 

Furthermore, he suggested that the government and the related agencies should aggressively promote creating experiences, rather sight spots with the country’s tourism council. 

With over 1.22 million healthcare travellers choosing Malaysia in 2019, the country’s value proposition of quality, accessibility and affordability continues to be relevant to health seekers regionally and globally, according to the MHTC. 

In its Malaysia Healthcare Travel Industry Blueprint 2021-2025, the council noted that the country’s healthcare travel industry enjoyed consistent double-digit growth between 2015 and 2019, with a compounded annual growth rate of 16.3% in the same period. 

The industry also earned international accolades and recognition from reputable bodies and has showcased its excellence through accreditations. 

MHTC expects the medical tourism industry to continue growing, with a projected annual revenue of RM2 billion in 2025. 

Nevertheless, the council said due to the border closures and compounded impact of Covid-19, Malaysia’s healthcare travel revenues saw a sharp decline, with the biggest impact felt in the second half of 2020 and beyond. 

However, the full impact has been mitigated slightly by continued healthcare spending by foreign patients including expatriates and Malaysia My Second Home holders residing in Malaysia. 

Looking ahead, MHTC said for the industry to move to the next level, collaborative and cohesive efforts with stakeholders across all touchpoints in the healthcare travel ecosystem are key to driving the industry forward. 

“Due to intense competition and the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare travel industry, it is important for all stakeholders to work together to revive the country’s healthcare industry for the next five years. 

“This includes focusing in areas such as strengthening the healthcare traveller ecosystem, amplifying Malaysia’s healthcare brand and sustaining, as well as expanding the healthcare travel market,” it said. 

MHTC noted that ultimately, the goal is for all players throughout the value chain and industry to showcase the “Best Malaysia Healthcare Travel Experience” by 2025. 

Source: The Malaysian Reserve

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Malaysia: Medical tourism profile

Malaysia is aiming to surpass Thailand and Singapore to remain the top medical tourist destination in South-East Asia.

Medical tourism numbers in

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) produces medical tourism figures. The MHTC figures have been changing over time and are often amended retrospectively. Growth is currently at 16-17% a year.

MHTC figures of international patients:

Medical tourism numbers out

20,000. Substantial numbers of Malaysians go overseas for medical treatment.

Environment

Medical tourism promotion.

The Malaysian government is actively promoting medical tourism, but only selected hospitals that reach certain standards. As a result the number of private hospitals providing quality medical care to international patients has increased over the years. The government is encouraging private healthcare players to have their hospitals MHTC-certified to increase the chances of being a preferred medical tourism destination. MHTC is establishing the Flagship Medical Tourism Hospital Programme

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• Malaysia’s medical tourism on a high
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Malaysia’s world-class quality healthcare services are delivered from expert hands.

The Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) is targeting several new ASEAN markets and the Middle East as it continues to establish Malaysia as a leading global destination for healthcare.

An agency under Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance, the MHTC is tasked with promoting Malaysia as a medical tourism destination under the ‘Malaysia Healthcare’ brand and has seen healthy growth in both the number of tourists visiting Malaysia to attend to their healthcare needs and the revenue generated by these visitors. 

From 643,000 arrivals in 2011 when the MHTC was privatised, Malaysia attracted 1.2 million arrivals last year thanks to its affordability and easy access to world-class quality healthcare facilities and services. Meanwhile, revenue generated by those arrivals during that period has surged from US$127 million to US$362 million. 

While Indonesia, United Kingdom (UK), India, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Australia, Japan and United States are among the main sources of medical tourism arrivals in Malaysia, MHTC CEO Sherene Azli told The ASEAN Post that the council is actively promoting its 79 member hospitals to Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei – as well as Bangladesh – and several countries in the Middle East such as Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. 

The medical tourism sector in Malaysia has recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16 to 17 percent over the last five years – well ahead of the global average of 10-12 percent and Asia-Pacific’s 12-14 percent. Competing in a medical tourism industry estimated to be worth US$180 billion globally by 2023, Sherene knows that Malaysia has to expand its reach if it is to maintain its impressive growth rate.

“We now have offices in Myanmar and Vietnam and we are in talks with Brunei and Cambodia to encourage more medical tourists,” said Sherene. 

“Malaysia is recognised in the Middle East as a global halal (permissible by Islam) hub, so we are trying to capitalise on that and are looking to collaborate with Qatar and sign agreements with Saudi Arabia and Oman,” she added.

With a string of accolades to its name, Malaysia’s private healthcare system has a strong reputation which helps it attract patients from across the globe. Malaysia has been recognised as the ‘Best Country in the World for Healthcare’ from 2015 to 2017 and 2019 by US-based International Living, a magazine and online portal which caters to seniors. The UK-based International Medical Travel Journal has also named Malaysia as ‘Destination of the Year’ for healthcare travel from 2015 to 2017, the same year medical tourism arrivals reached the one million mark (1,050,000) in Malaysia for the first time.

Singapore and Thailand are also strong players in the ASEAN medical tourism industry, but while Singapore was once the go-to destination for those seeking treatment abroad – especially from Southeast Asia – Malaysia now offers the same services at a quarter of the price. Singapore, though, is still regarded to have more skilled doctors and cutting-edge medical technology. Malaysia’s biggest competitor in the ASEAN medical tourism market is Thailand, which attracts more medical tourists per year than Malaysia – an estimated two million international patients went to Thailand in 2017 out of its 35 million overall tourist arrivals. Positioning itself as a ‘Medical and Wellness’ destination, Thailand is a global leader in cosmetic surgery and treatment as well as wellness and traditional medicines.

Malaysia, meanwhile, is promoting itself as the ‘Cardiology and Fertility Hub of Asia’ thanks to its renowned National Heart Institute, and the 33 centres which support it. Its strong in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) success rates are also above the global average.

With the healthcare industry at the forefront of many technological advances, Sherene said Malaysian hospitals and clinics are already using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies for more accurate diagnostics and to facilitate easier transfer of medical records from international patients. 

“Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data will help us improve a patient’s experience, which is key for us,” noted Sherene.

With a healthy medical tourism ecosystem providing a seamless healthcare travel journey for its patients, Malaysia is sure to remain a popular destination for international patients for years to come.

Source: The Asean Post

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Malaysia’s Sabah considers health and wellness tourism council

There is a plan to set up a Sabah health and wellness tourism council to market Malaysian state, Sabah, as a medical tourism destination. Local politicians are working with the Sabah Tourism Board (STB), and local medical group Medisinar to set up a one-stop centre for all matters related to health and medical tourism.

The aim is to provide impetus and focus to promote Sabah’s health and wellness tourism globally.

A Sabah Health and Wellness Tourism Council (SHWTC) may be set up to promote the state as a health and wellness tourism destination.

Based on the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) data in 2018, Sabah only generated RM7.4 million (US$1.68m) in health and wellness tourism, compared to the national revenue of RM1.4 billion (US$320m).

It is thought SHWTC could help medical travellers with inquiries, and work with policies and programmes on healthcare and wellness travel development and promotion.

It wants to collaborate with the STB on how to effectively advertise this area and attract people from neighbouring countries, particularly travellers from Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) region seeking health and wellness treatment in Sabah.

STB has said it will work closely with members of the local medical community to make Sabah a choice of destination for medical tourism.

Penang and Malacca already have state healthcare tourism councils, and this is also in line with STB efforts to attract high-end travellers.

There are suggestions that SHWTC considers including representatives from relevant government and private agencies as members.

STB already promotes medical tourism through the MHTC.  It says it is prepared to work with SHWTC to exchange experience and skills to develop a viable package for medical tourism in the state.

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TOURISM MALAYSIA UNVEILS STRATEGIC ROADMAP FOR VISIT MALAYSIA 2026

YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture delivering his mandate at the Tourism Malaysia Strategic Direction Towards VM2026 Networking Session

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 April 2024 – Tourism Malaysia had a prominent start on 30th April 2024 by organising a networking session with the industry players by presenting its strategic direction and action plans focussing on promoting Malaysia internationally and domestically. This direction and action plans were crafted during the engagement session with industry players to ensure the fast conversion and high impact programme and achieve the common goal in attracting 35.6 million tourists and generate RM147.1 billion in receipts for Visit Malaysia 2026.

The VM 2026 roadmap is built on three core strategies – creating demand, increasing traffic, and prioritising target markets. Key initiatives include branding and marketing blitz, strategic partnerships for joint promotions/tactical campaigns and market segmentation.

Malaysia's notable tourism achievements for the first quarter of 2024 are promising. During this period, from January to March, Malaysia saw a significant influx of foreign tourists, reaching 5.8 million arrivals. This marks a remarkable growth of 32.5% compared to the previous year's 4.3 million. The top ten markets contributing to this success were Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brunei, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines.

Tourism Malaysia will continue to empower its branding through aggressive advertising campaigns, influencer marketing, and compelling content creation across digital (70%) and traditional (30%) media platforms. The agency will also establish strategic partnerships with airlines, online travel agents (OTAs), and land/sea border operators of neighbouring countries to enhance tourist arrivals.

Key target markets are prioritised into three tiers, led by first-level priorities such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia. The second-level priorities include South Korea, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the United Kingdom, followed by third-level priorities comprising Chinese Taipei and Germany. Apart from traditional markets such as Brunei, Thailand and Singapore, the focus is also highlighted on emerging markets like Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, tourism products and travel experiences will be tailored for niche segments like nature-based tourism, experiential tourism, medical & wellness tourism, responsible tourism, luxury, weddings, Muslim-friendly, gastronomy, and bleisure travel.

YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said: "Our multipronged VM 2026 strategy provides a comprehensive framework to boost Malaysia's visibility, enhance destination accessibility and elevate our tourism offerings. Through focused efforts and strategic collaborations, we are confident of achieving our yearly arrivals and target receipts in the run-up to VM 2026."

Tourism Malaysia will continue engaging industry stakeholders and international partners to refine and execute the VM 2026 strategies, positioning Malaysia as a preferred tourist destination in this region.

About Tourism Malaysia

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, also known as Tourism Malaysia, is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination. Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene.

The next Visit Malaysia Year, set to take place in 2026, will commemorate the sustainability of the nation's tourism industry, which is also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG).

Furthermore, Tourism Malaysia actively endorses the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), working towards the realisation of the IMT-GT Visiting Year 2023-2025, with the shared aim of promoting the region as a unified tourism destination. For more information, visit Tourism Malaysia’s social media accounts on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , YouTube , and TikTok .

For enquiries, please contact:

Mohamed Shahrir Hadzim Deputy Director Strategic Planning Division [email protected] Tel: +603 8891 8164

Marhafizman Mohamad Daud Senior Tourism Officer Corporate Communications Division [email protected] Tel: +603 8891 8755

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