A new business alliance between a popular hotel, a travel agency and a medical association announced a program yesterday to promote medical tourism in Taiwan.
It is the first time that the three industries have joined forces to promote medical tourism, the market for which, according to estimates by the Council for Economic Planning and Development, could be worth up to NT$7 billion (US$220 million) per year.
Under the program, the Grand Hotel, the Taiwan Hospital Association and the Taipei-based Asia-Pacific Society of Travel Medicine (ASTM) will cooperate in promoting tourism packages to foreign visitors.
The cost of a four-day tour is estimated at between NT$30,000 and NT$60,000. The tour would include a three-hour health checkup, an anti-oxidation treatment, skin care and a magnetic wave face lift session.
Customers would stay at Taipei's Grand Hotel and spend their leisure time visiting local tourists spots, such as Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum.
ASTM Director Shieh Ying-hua (
Citing Thailand as an example, Shieh said foreign nationals paid some 730,000 visits to the Southeast Asian country in 2003 on similar trips, and the number grew by 16 percent in 2005.
Although Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and India have promoted medical tourism for years, Shieh said he believes that Taiwan stands a good chance of attracting a considerable number of foreign visitors for medical tourism thanks to its superior levels of medical care.
Japan and Middle Eastern countries are potential sources of customers, he added.
Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), president of the Taiwan Hospital Association, said that Singapore lures some 500,000 medical tourists each year and Thailand double that number.
The critical issue now facing Taiwan, he said, was that the country must effectively improve the standard of its services if it hopes to catch up with Thailand or Singapore in the medical tourism field.
Dragon Tours General Manager Yang Chung-lin said Taiwan has a great potential to develop medical tourism, even though it is just beginning to promote the industry.
"Taiwan's medical level is quite competitive compared with those of neighboring countries," he said confidently.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
RSS