Sanya holds potential for TCM tourism
During the forum, the experts said the Chinese health sector is expected to grow to 1 trillion yuan in 2020 and will be a powerful driver for domestic consumption and employment thanks to its expansive service and long industrial chain.
Due to multiple factors, such as favorable natural and medical conditions as well as increasing market demand, Sanya has been a pioneer in the health sector.
The Sanya TCM Hospital has been promoting Chinese therapies such as acupuncture, massage and cupping therapy to attract tourists. As of this March, the hospital gets around 30,000 overseas customers a year, mainly from Russia and Central Asia.
During the 1st Sanya TCM Healthcare Travel Forum, experts said that Sanya still has a long way to go in medical tourism, and should take the following four measures to boost the development of the industry:
–It should establish an industry association to improve management
–It should effectively integrate its various resources and develop a series of medical tourism products
–It should encourage local hospitals to obtain international hospital accreditation in order to attract foreign medical tourists
–It should properly integrate traditional Chinese medicine with tourism