BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) – As the global medical tourism market witnesses an annual increase of 25 percent, Asian countries, especially southeast Asian ones, are becoming ever popular destinations for medical tourists.

It is estimated by "Patients Beyond Borders", a medical tourism guide, the number of medical tourists hit 11million by 2013, spending as much as 55 billion U.S. dollars.

The development of the medical tourism industry could be attributed to reasons including a global aging population, improved wealth standard as well as increased high-quality hospitals.

This is particularly obvious in Asia where millions turn to Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan of China.

Propelled by strong economic growth, medical services in nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have been remarkably improved.

The improvement has attracted not only tourists from the developed countries who are unable to afford medial costs domestically, but also those from the developing nations who are looking for high-quality medical services.

The fact that English is the communication language also contributes to such a booming.

source:Eturbonews