Tailormade cosmetic procedure packages for significant life ‘moments’ are proving a hit with medical tourists to Thailand, boosting the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Procedures for people who are getting married, having babies, growing old – and getting divorced – feature highly among the requests from overseas patients who have chosen Thailand as their destination of choice to create a new look.
Thailand has long been one of the most popular countries for medical tourism, and cosmetic procedures, including aesthetic surgery, account for around 15% of the country’s overall medical tourism sector, with locations near celebrated tourist vacation spots and cheap treatments cited as major drivers that boost the sector.
In 2016, Thailand’s overall medical tourism market, of which cosmetics procedures is the most important segment, generated around US$5.6bn – up 9.8% year on year – from 2.1 million medical tourists, according to international business analyst Frost & Sullivan.
The research company predicts those figures will rise to