Hainan to become world-class medical tourism hub
January 15, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Southern China’s Hainan province has unveiled plans aimed at building the tropical island into a world-class medical tourism hub, combining high-end medical tourism with characteristic Chinese healthcare. The move follows a plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to encourage tourism-related activities in Hainan, such as medical tourism, horse racing, sports betting and an instant lottery. Focusing on four key areas — medical treatment, cosmetic procedures, rehabilitation and health promotion — Hainan will introduce internationally renowned institutions, insurance providers and intermediary service agencies to build a high-end foundation for the international medical tourism market, the plan said. In 10 years, Hainan is projected to become a major medical tourism destination with total annual business revenue reaching CNY40 billion.
Eight major medical tourism projects will be developed, covering fields such as cancer treatment and rehabilitation, fertility therapy, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease treatment and rehabilitation, environmental healing and sports recuperation, traditional Chinese medicine and spiritual retreat. Medical tourism has become one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging industries, and Hainan has unique conditions for developing it, Governor Shen Xiaoming said on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 in April. Under the plan, Hainan will tap its characteristic resources of vast coastal areas, tropical rain forests and hot springs to cultivate innovative healthcare and leisure products.
To stimulate the industries, Hainan will explore flexible policies, regulatory models and management systems for investment, financing, fiscal policies and taxation, financial innovation, and entry and exit, to create the proper conditions for the medical tourism industry, which is growing by about 20% annually around the globe. In China, more than 600,000 people went overseas as medical tourists in 2016. In 2013, the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone was launched to pioneer medical tourism in Hainan, including cutting-edge technological research on stem cells. Twenty-seven medical projects have been completed or are under construction in the pilot zone, and another 38 projects have passed medical technology appraisals. All projects in the pilot zone are targeted to be completed within five years, the China Daily reports.
Meanwhile, a Business Leaders’ Advisory Council for the Hainan provincial government was inaugurated in Sanya with the aim of soliciting advice and suggestions that will further advance the opening-up of the tropical island and the development of the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone established by the central government in April. Seated on the first advisory council are five well-known Chinese entrepreneurs and economists: Jack Ma, Founder and Chairman of Alibaba, Pony Ma, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, Ning Gaoning, Chairman of Sinochem, Zhou Qiren, Professor at Peking University’s National School of Development, and Liang Jianzhang, Chairman of online travel agency Ctrip. Jack Ma was elected council Chairman and Pony Ma Vice Chairman. The Advisory Council will grow and include more Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs, said Ni Qiang, Secretary General of the provincial government. They will meet in Hainan every December.
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