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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS