Taiwan is a relative newcomer to the medical tourism industry. But Lion Travel, the country’s biggest travel agency, hopes to grow quickly into a big presence in the sector by attracting Chinese tourists to the island as old barriers to travel across the Taiwan Strait fall.
Lion Travel began setting up a unit specialising in medical tourism a year ago, soon after Taiwan began to see a surge in Chinese tourists who, for the first time in 60 years, were allowed to visit Taiwan in tour groups.
It began operating tour groups with medical services as part of the package several months ago, attracting wealthy Chinese with slogans such as “Mommy comes to Taiwan, and returns looking like your sister.”