Thailand targets Qatar for medical tourism

A number of Thailand hospitals, beauty clinics and wellness centres, with delegates from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), gathered in Doha recently to promote the Asean country’s numerous health and wellness offerings.

The event, dubbed as “The Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Road Show 2018” was attended by the Thai ambassador Nathapol Khantahiran and featured a series of presentations on industry insights and traditional Thai entertainment.

“The event showcased key insight into Thailand’s medical tourism industry and the recent improvements that have been made. Qatar is one of our key markets for medical tourism and we hope to keep building on this by keeping the local community here informed of the latest developments in the industry in Thailand,” TAT Middle East director Pichaya Saisaengchan said.

The global medical tourism market is estimated at $50–60bn annually, according to the Global Wellness Institute.

Qatar is one of the top performing source market for health, wellness and medical tourism in Thailand and TAT hopes that the road show will help to build on the already significant number of Qatari visitors heading to Thailand for health and wellness purposes.

Last year, over 616,000 people from the Middle East visited Thailand, with 40% of the visitors female.The figure is set to increase this year as more people across the Middle East look to Thailand for unique travel experiences.