ROYAL PALM BEACH, FLORIDA–(Marketwire – Aug. 30, 2010) – The Medical Tourism industry is facing new obstacles and challenges it never faced before. One of these challenges is the new competition entering the marketplace. Established medical tourism destinations are being challenged by new and emerging one.
“As new opportunities arise in any industry, so does new competition,” said Renee-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association and Chief Editor of Medical Tourism Magazine. “We are starting to see some of the more established medical tourism destinations with excellent reputations letting their guard down in terms of marketing and promotion. This is allowing new, emerging destinations to make a big push, generating larger international patient flow through brand awareness. The lack of a comprehensive roadmap will mean less consumer awareness and loss of market positioning in the future,” adds Stephano.
As new buyers of healthcare enter into the medical tourism marketplace including medical tourism facilitators, insurance companies or employers who are looking to implement medical tourism, a greater sense of brand awareness will be necessary to maintain demand. As new hospitals and countries enter the medical tourism market with internationally accredited and super specialty facilities, going that extra mile to deliver the brand may be just what makes the difference in attracting these new buyers.
“The upcoming 3rd World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress provides an excellent opportunity for new and emerging players in the medical tourism marketplace to establish a brand in front of some of the new buyers who are entering this marketplace. Because some of the older players are relying on past marketing efforts, certain new players may come in to ‘eat their lunch,’” said Stephano.
Ms. Stephano also added, “We are seeing new areas of competition being generated simply by development of healthcare clusters. One example of this emerging regional competition is Brazil. Several cities in Brazil realized that word of mouth reputation may not be enough to establish competitiveness. They are in the process of creating healthcare clusters to deliver the message about high quality of care extending beyond cosmetic surgery, which will create tremendous competition to the rest of Latin America’s healthcare providers who have been enjoying the lion’s share of patients in the region. Also developing is more organized growth for countries of inbound and outbound care such as Japan and China. This is a trend is also being seen in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The whole model and shift in power in medical tourism’s future is perceptible,” added Stephano.
This year’s 3rd World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress will feature many of the new and emerging healthcare providers, hospitals and countries getting involved in medical tourism.
The conference will also have a focus on bringing in employers, insurance companies and governments who deal with international healthcare issues and employees and patients on a global basis.”
The 3rd annual MTA World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress, http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com organized by the Medical Tourism Association, http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com and the Medical Tourism Magazine, http://www.medicaltourismmag.com will bring together up to 2,000 of the most senior level healthcare, leaders, employers and insurance industry professionals September 22nd-24th, 2010 in Los Angeles.
The conference is the dedicated annual event of the Medical Tourism Association, the non profit trade association in the Medical Tourism industry, http://www.medicaltourismassociation.com, and media partner Medical Tourism Magazine, http://www.medicaltourismmag.com the only dedicated magazine for the medical tourism and global healthcare industry, and by Medical Tourism City, www.medicaltourismcity.com, a social network for the medical tourism and global healthcare industry with over one thousand participants from over sixty countries.
The 3rd World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress will also feature two additional conferences, the Expatriate Healthcare, Travel Insurance and Global Health Insurance Conference, http://www.expatriateconference.com, which focuses on international employers and insurance companies, and the Sustainable Healthcare and Hospital Development Conference, www.healthcaredevelopmentconference.com, which focuses on the growth of medical tourism in the healthcare sector and the building and development of healthcare facilities around the world.
The Medical Tourism Association™ (Global Healthcare Association) is the international non-profit trade association for the medical tourism and global healthcare industry made up of the top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical travel facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliated companies and members with the common goal of promoting the highest level of quality of healthcare to patients in a global environment. Our Association (Global Healthcare Association) promotes the interests of its healthcare provider and medical tourism facilitator members. The Medical Tourism Association™ (Global Healthcare Association) has three tenets: Transparency in Quality and Pricing, Communication and Education.