Agency Develops Medical Travel Division

Two years ago the Taiwanese government positioned medical tourism as one of the top six new industries for national development. At that time the Lion Group, Taiwan’s largest travel agency, recognized the opportunities in the market and established its own medical tourism subsidiary.

“The goal of Lion Group is to establish a cross-border medical platform where people from all over the world can have the option of coming to Taiwan to receive quality medical care at reasonable prices while visiting our country,” Teresa Liu, Lion Group’s manager, North America Region, told Travel Market Report.

She added that the Taipei-based travel agency, founded in 1977, is leveraging its numerous branches worldwide, including those in Los Angeles and Vancouver, to establish an international medical tourism business. “Currently, we have a dedicated team taking care of daily medical tourism business,” she said. The team includes a medical travel facilitator who arranges for medical procedures in partnership with the Chung Gung Medical Foundation’s internationally accredited medical centers in Taiwan.

Lion Group also provides traditional travel agency services, including wellness travel packages that feature treatments at Taiwan’s hot spring spas, in addition to customized leisure travel packages. Liu shared specifics of Lion Group’s involvement in the medical travel market with Nick Verrastro.

We offer medical travelers from North America three categories of services, preventive check-ups and non-invasive type of services, minimally invasive cosmetic procedures, and major surgeries, such as total knee and total hip replacement, and other orthopedic procedures.

In terms of costs, on average MRI scans alone cost $1,785 to $3,624 in the U.S. compared to $1,200 in Taiwan for a comprehensive check-up including MRI. Cosmetic procedures in Taiwan are usually one-third of the cost in the U.S. and are of excellent quality. For major surgeries, a cardiac bypass procedure in the U.S. costs around $70,000 to $133,000 as opposed to approximately $27,500 in Taiwan.

Recently, we also developed a joint venture with some issuing banks of MasterCard to offer comprehensive health checkups as one of the benefits for cardholders.  

In terms of the medical institutions and hospitals Lion Travel is affiliated with, they are all tertiary facilities, and the majority of them are JCI-accredited already. For business and convention travelers, we customize trips based on their business schedules and the type of medical services provided.  A good number of Asian travelers from North America can stop in Taiwan for a few days for comprehensive heath check-ups and/or minimally invasive procedures before they visit China. The savings they realize from obtaining medical services in Taiwan, as opposed to what they would cost in the U.S., are normally significant enough to cover the entire cost of the trip, if not more.

We also customize wellness travel and leisure packages of 6 days/5 nights to Taiwan for general tourists from the U.S. and Canada. Working with travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada, we can arrange tour packages that vary from value-plus types of trips to luxury vacations, depending on the client's needs.

We do not serve just the Chinese community. As there are more than 44 million uninsured people nationwide in the U.S., our goal is to serve all ethnic groups from different potential areas, given our ability to manage costs and provide safe and quality services. For Canadians, while national health coverage is available, the wait time to be treated locally is sometimes just intolerable. Therefore, medical travel to Taiwan has become an excellent alternative for people overseas, including those underinsured or uninsured. Additionally, Canadians love our natural hot springs.

In terms of risk and liabilities, it is relatively risk-free for us to arrange for those non-invasive and minimally invasive services. As to referral for invasive procedures, our role is limited only to providing a second option for those who seek care.

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