Health tourism generally has a long history in Thailand. People have being coming here for decades to learn how to meditate – although this is often viewed as a spiritual quest, some individuals do see it as a tool to deal with stress and improve their health. Thai massage has also always been popular with tourists. It is only in recent years though that traveling to Thailand for medical treatments such as surgery has become popular.

There are a number of factors that have made it possible for medical tourism to become such a major industry in Thailand including the availability of quality world-class treatments, luxurious hospital accommodation, cheap airfares, and easily accessed information online (it is doubtful that this industry could exist like it does without the internet). Of course, one of the main driving forces behind medical tourism is that you can receive treatment at a fraction of the amount of money you would pay in most western countries. Thailand is also a wonderful place to recuperate following any type of procedure.

If you live in a country like the UK, you may be faced with a long waiting list for many types of medical treatment unless it is an emergency. You can cut this waiting time down by going private, but this can be prohibitively expensive. In this situation, it can make sense to travel to Thailand for the treatment. Even after you factor in airfares and other expenses, it can still be significantly cheaper than receiving treatment at home.