Island holds all the aces for health tourism

More investors are eyeing Hainan province's opportunities for healthcare tourism, a booming industry expected to bring in $678 billion in 2017 worldwide, according to a United States research report.

Under the spotlight of the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone - China's first pioneering base for healthcare tourism - Hainan is going deeper in exploring a multimode health care tourism service industry to promote the Healthy China plan.

"It focuses on healthcare projects, commercial health insurance and internet medical services, in a bid to build Hainan into a leading international healthcare tourism destination in the world", said Han Yingwei, director of the Hainan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission.

Official figures shows that the medical and healthcare industries made up more than 11 percent of the provincial GDP in 2015, implying a solid basis for building a new model with international tourism features.

Hainan has attracted a number of international medical groups such as the Austrian Vamed Group, which has established a joint venture hospital with the HNA Group in Haikou, capital of Hainan province, to bring in new technology and service concepts that are important for the local medical industry, according to media reports.

"Trusteeship cooperation with well established hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have effectively raised the comprehensive level of its healthcare services and laid a good foundation for further development," said Han.

The first set of imported linear accelerator equipment, with a value of $3.43 million, recently passed official inspections and was approved for installation at the Boao Evergrande International Hospital in Lecheng, a small town 6 kilometers away from the site of the Boao Forum for Asia in Qionghai on tropical Hainan Island.

Yiling Lifecare Center at the Boao Lecheng, since opening in January, has received more than 8,000 membership tourists due to its services that are oriented toward improving quality of life through bio-medicine, anti-aging treatments, regenerative medicine and psychological rehabilitation.