On November 16th 2009, a group of 30 Mainland Chinese arrived for a 9 day medical tourism trip in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The medical tourists received a number of different procedures, including dental, skin, eye and cosmetic surgery. There were also a number of Chinese medicine treatments.
The secretary general of the Kaohsiung Medical Tourism Promotion Association noted that Kaohsiung has an edge over Taipei because of lower prices and more tourism opportunities.
Taiwan is an up-and-coming player in the medical tourism industry. Many of the short-term opportunities are right in Taiwan’s geographic back yard. However, whether or not large numbers of Chinese citizens will leave the mainland for Taiwan in search of medical care remains to be seen.
In cooperation with the Taiwan Task Force for Medical Travel