Malaysia to attract two million medical tourists in the year 2020

By TIN Media | Tourism Malaysia Published 4 years ago on 4 November 2019
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KUALALUMPUR:

Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) launched a campaign called Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel 2020 (MyHT2020). The main aim of the campaign is to attract two million medical tourists by 2020. Malaysia’s healthcare and medical sector expects a tremendous increase in medical students next year.

Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah, Deputy Finance Minister, said that the campaign will run in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign (VM2020). Along with the motive of increases in students count, the campaign would be promoting the importance of physical and mental well-being by inviting everyone to seek health and wellness treatment while enjoying Malaysia’s tourism attractions.

After launching the MyHT2020 campaign Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said “We hope with this campaign, we will gain momentum and secure more travellers. We are expecting two million healthcare travellers, bringing in revenue receipts of RM2 billion and contributing RM8 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP),”.Whereas, Healthcare sector for travel contributed some 7.6 per cent of total tourism revenues.

Amiruddin also added that the forecast number represented a significant increase from 2018’s statistics which showed 1.2 million healthcare travellers, who generated RM1.5 billion revenue receipts and contributed RM6.4 billion to the GDP.

He added “In terms of revenue, Malaysia healthcare tourism’s compound annual growth rate has been an encouraging 17 per cent from 2015 to 2018. MyHT2020 would also be playing the role of a catalyst to turn Malaysia into a high-income earning nation”.

At the launch event, Sherene Azli MHTC chief executive officer also marked his presence. He described Malaysia as a “healthcare marvel” as it offered a “truly unique “patient” experience through a combination of award-winning healthcare services coupled with the country’s long-standing reputation as a preferred holiday travel destination.

she said. “Malaysian healthcare, once known as the ‘Hidden Jewel of Asia’, has been internationally recognized (with Malaysia named) as the Destination of the Year for healthcare travel by UK-based International Medical Travel Journal and the Best Country in the World for Healthcare by US-based International Living,”

MHTC also signed an MoU with Malaysia Airlines Bhd to strengthen the healthcare travel industry service offerings.

With the recent budget allocation for 2020, a lot of scope for medical tourism is available. With the recent declaration, it is noted that the government would allocate RM25 million to MHTC to strengthen Malaysia’s position as the preferred destination for health tourism in ASEAN for oncology, cardiology and fertility treatment.


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