Tourism is one of Hong Kong's four pillar industries and has always been an important force supporting local employment. However, the sudden outbreak of the pandemic last year dealt a severe blow to the local tourism economy, leading to a sharp increase in unemployment rates in related sectors. On January 11th, FT Chinese Network wrote an article discussing the transformation path for Hong Kong's tourism industry to break through after the pandemic, suggesting that Hong Kong can alleviate difficulties by vigorously developing high-end medical tourism. In demonstrating the development space and growth potential of Hong Kong's medical tourism industry, data from Frost & Sullivan were directly cited.
# Frost & Sullivan's insights
01
The total expenditure on private medical care in Hong Kong reached HK$869 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual average rate of 7.6%, reaching HK$1340 billion by 2025; the global medical tourism industry is predicted to reach $658 billion by 2025, with Asia-Pacific accounting for about 40%. If Hong Kong can capture 10% of the Asia-Pacific market share, it will additionally increase revenue by about HK$200 billion, expanding the overall market size to HK$1,540 billion.
02
With such a huge industrial space, Hong Kong urgently needs to seize the current golden opportunity to extend into the high-end medical tourism market.
The global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inevitably hit Hong Kong's tourism market hard. From January to October last year, the number of visitors to Hong Kong plummeted by 92.9%. The unemployment rate in the consumer tourism-related industries rose sharply to 11.7% in the third quarter, and this data does not reflect the situation after the grounding and layoffs of Cathay Pacific Dragon Airlines in October that year and the completion of the government's employment support fund. Hong Kong's tourism industry itself relies on a single market, and its 'quantity-high-value' structural problem is difficult to cope with in the post-pandemic tourism ecosystem.
As one of Hong Kong's four pillar industries, in addition to contributing to GDP, tourism and related industries have always been an important force supporting local employment. Hong Kong must focus on developing diversified high-profit tourism products. The medical tourism market not only has high profits but also makes full use of Hong Kong's inherent tourism and medical resources, and Hong Kong has a concentrated industrial chain and a highly mature capital market. Therefore, efforts should be made to develop 'small quantity, high value' products to attract the wealthy class in emerging markets for high-end medical tourism.
In recent years, various regions around the world have been competing for this sunrise industry of healthcare tourism. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, healthcare-related services will become the largest and fastest-growing sunrise industry globally, accounting for 22% of global GDP together with leisure tourism. Among them, China is a major country in the overseas healthcare tourism market demand. According to a survey conducted by Shengnuojiayi, an overseas medical service provider in China at the beginning of 2020, 65% of the people who went abroad for medical treatment in 2019 came from high-income entrepreneurs and executives, while the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan accounted for 99% of the overseas medical treatment market. Undoubtedly, Hong Kong's tourism resources are exceptionally rich, with its medical talents and technology ranking among the world's top. Hong Kong's open market environment can better mobilize international medical resources, and with its close development with the Chinese mainland, it has an absolute advantage in attracting the new rich class from China to travel to Hong Kong for medical tourism under the uncertain prospects of the COVID-19 pandemic in various countries and Sino-US relations.
Why has Hong Kong been overshadowed in the field of medical tourism in recent years?
The author believes that mainly there is no industry cooperation led by policy, social doubts, and the past reliance on China's market dividends by Hong Kong's tourism industry hindered the development of high-end tourism products. In fact, the market has already extended Hong Kong's medical resources to the mainland. For example, the listed Medlink Group in Hong Kong has cooperated with the online medical service brand Penguin Doctor in China, providing more convenient services for residents of the Greater Bay Area to travel to Hong Kong for medical treatment through online platforms and artificial intelligence technology. However, when comparing with other regions in the world's medical tourism markets horizontally, policy support or government-led development models are key to quickly establishing tourism brands in the short term. For example, Thailand implemented the 'Medical Hub of Asia' plan since 2004, and the Japanese government designated medical tourism as a national pillar industry in 2010.
Hong Kong has a highly market-oriented economic structure. As long as there is market demand and policy support, the industry will combine capital to expand its territory. First, market restrictions should be relaxed policy-wise to remove barriers between different industries and markets. For example, accelerating the interoperability of insurance industries between the two places and implementing the 'insurance pass' mechanism expected by the market can greatly enhance medical consumption capabilities. Other policies such as providing tax incentives or subsidies to private institutions that adopt medical technology and provide training, issuing medical tourism visas to passengers with medical needs, relaxing stay times or entry frequencies, etc., are needed. Policy first requires close cooperation among industries to develop attractive medical services and tourism products that can meet the needs of passengers after entering the country. It is best to form an inter-industry medical tourism association to lead cooperation in different fields such as medicine, tourism, aviation, and hotels. To build an international medical tourism city, it also requires government coordination between departments such as the Tourism Development Council and the Department of Health to improve industry supervision and strengthen brand promotion. As long as the vision and thinking are changed, Hong Kong's tourism industry will welcome new impetus for sustainable development.
As for the social doubts about the shortage of land and medical resources in Hong Kong, the author believes that this does not constitute a negative factor for developing the medical tourism market. Hong Kong indeed cannot build large comprehensive medical institutions in its city centers like Japan and Singapore. As long as the government moderately relaxes land use and integrates the private medical market network, it can form point-to-point connection boutique services by taking advantage of the transportation network. The shortage of medical resources in Hong Kong mainly lies in public institutions. The high-end private medical market operates independently and has a certain scale, but it has not formed a medical tourism brand. On the contrary, the author believes that policies should vigorously encourage the development of more medical service training and provide more local employment opportunities. As long as the policies are clear and supervision is in place, developing the high-end private medical market will not compete for public medical resources. On the contrary, if the industry outlook is bright, it can attract more people to engage in the healthcare industry.
According to reports from the Food and Health Bureau of Hong Kong and independent market research firm Frost & Sullivan, the total expenditure on private medical care in Hong Kong reached HK$869 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual average rate of 7.6%, reaching HK$1340 billion by 2025; the global medical tourism industry is predicted to reach $658 billion by 2025, with Asia-Pacific accounting for about 40%. If Hong Kong can capture 10% of the Asia-Pacific market share, it will additionally increase revenue by about HK$200 billion, expanding the overall market size to HK$1,540 billion. With such a huge industrial space, Hong Kong urgently needs to seize the current golden opportunity to extend into the high-end medical tourism market.
*This article is reprinted from 'FT Chinese Network', authored by Chen Huiran, with the original title 'Hong Kong Can Break Through Dilemmas through High-End Medical Tourism'.
