Malaysia wooing foreigners to join healthcare tourism

Malaysian Health Ministry has rolled out a number of activities in Southeast Asia to attract more foreigners to participate in healthcare tourism in Malaysia.Its minister Liow Tiong Lai said in Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administration center, on Tuesday that the health care tourism industry had been made a part of the national key economic areas (NKEA).

The Malaysian Healthcare Tourism Council was also being restructured to coordinate the market promotion activities of the related sector, the minister said.According to Liow, as many as 400,000 foreigners took part in healthcare tourism in Malaysia last year, generating revenue of 308 million ringgit (101.65 million U.S. dollars) for the country.

Meanwhile, Liow said that the major programs implemented by the ministry under the NKEA, including the promotion of healthcare tourism, were moving on the right track.

He also said he was confident that the programs would meet, or even surpass, the target set by the Malaysian government.The ministry hopes to generate 35.3 billion ringgit (11.65 billion U.S. dollars) in earnings this year.

Source = istockanalyst