Health tourism is a term associated with travel for the purpose of medical treatment, rejuvenation therapy and related fields. Health tourism implies either cross-boarder travel for medical treatments or travel within the country for better treatments. Travelers from west have been increasingly showing interest in cost effective medical facilities in developing countries. Nationals of these countries now seek medical treatment and fitness therapies in world-class facilities in developing countries, which come at a price that is a fifth or sixth of what they would pay in their own countries. Thus, health tourism together with globalization of markets, and easy access to information via the Internet has much more enabled the health traveler to select the destination of his choice.

Health tourists visit their desired destinations mainly for surgeries and fitness treatments. Organ transplantation, Oncology treatment, heart surgery, eye treatment etc are much cheaper and cost effective in developing countries like India, Malaysia and Thailand. These countries provide the combination of best doctors with world class infrastructure. Beauty treatments and spa is another area which attract tourists towards eastern countries. Holistic health care and rejuvenation therapies using Ayurveda and Yoga also attract inflow of tourists to distant destinations.

India, Malaysia and Thailand are most the favorite destinations of health tourists who seek treatment for any types of illness. India is a preferred destination for heart, orthopedic, eye and neuro-surgeries. Eye surgery, kidney dialysis and organ transplantation are among the most common treatments sought by medical tourists in Thailand. Thailand also has a flourishing spa industry which attracts over three million visitors in a year. South Africa, Hungary and Argentina provide facilities for many patients seeking cosmetic surgery, especially from North America and Europe. Kerala is a pioneer in health and medical tourism in India. It has made a concerted effort to promote health tourism along with its unique Ayurveda treatment. Ayurveda is a significant money-earner for Kerala tourism as it has been a key to a substantial increase in the number of visitor arrivals into the state.

The chief factor behind increasing trends towards health tourism is high health care expenditure in western countries. The same treatment can be done with lower costs in any of the developing countries. A heart surgery may cost more than 200000 Dollars in USA. But in India, the total cost will be less than 10000 Dollars.

There are factors other than cost as well. The health infrastructure in countries like Britain and the United States is proving inadequate to cope with the fast-growing population segment of sixty years and above. Another reason is lack of insurance. Cosmetic surgeries are not covered by insurance in the US. Hence, many in the US seeking cosmetic surgery go abroad especially to South Africa. Lack of facilities for certain procedures is the major reason why many in the Middle East seek treatment abroad.

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