Kim Waddoup, the organiser of, shares his insight into outbound Russian medical tourism, gained from the recent survey conducted at the Moscow Medshow.
Despite the geopolitical situation, Russian patients appear to be continuing in their quest for high quality medical treatment abroad. The bi-annual survey taken at the Spring Moscow Medshow provides a valuable insight into this lucrative sector.
There were just under 3,000 visitors over the two days of the Spring Moscow MedShow and the organisers used the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive survey of their visitors producing an accurate survey of the Russian medical tourism market and the specific requirements of the Russian patient.
How much do Russians spend on treatment abroad?
35%, an increase of 24%, indicated that they would spend more than €25,000 on their treatment abroad, whilst 20% indicated that their budget would be between €10,000 and €25,000. So Russians are aware of the pricing structure and prepared to pay well!
How soon are Russians looking to travel for treatments?
45% answered that they will be travelling within 2-6 months and with the market size estimated at 70,000 people per year this means that 32,000 Russians are travelling abroad at this time for treatment. 26% indicated that they have chronic conditions and would travel within 1 month whilst 29% were taking their time considering where to have treatment and would travel after 6 months.
What treatments are Russians looking for overseas?
Diagnosis and subsequent treatment accounted for 33% of the market whilst 28% indicated that they would travel for surgery abroad. Interest in cosmetic surgery has increased by 45% with 18% of the market indicating that this was their main reason for travel whilst 10% would travel for spa and preventative medicine.
Naturally the geopolitical situation and media overkill were of concern to the respondents. However, many, with their savings in hard currency, indicated that as the treatment was either not available or was expensive in Russia that they would travel abroad, despite the current situation.
As to where Russians would travel for medical treatment, the clear leaders continue to be Germany and Israel currently sharing 44%. However, many new contenders are also making their presence felt on the market with significant market share including China, Hungary, South Korea, Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Monaco, Switzerland, Spain and Thailand.
What is the future for medical tourism from Russia?
We believe that the market will continue to grow with Russians becoming significantly more important in the market. General tourism is starting to re-bound and there is more confidence in the market. Once the political situation can be solved, this market will continue its growth.
Previous comments on this article
Hello Ian,
I do agree that the official figures for the first 3 months of the year have seen a substantial drop due to the current geopolitical situation in addition to the currency devaluation which greatly affected mass tourism.
However there appears to be optimism in the air in Moscow and if the crowds in the airports are indicative, the results for the next 3 months should be healthier.
I do not believe that Russians has switched to other countries for the International travel. The situation in late Autumn was very unsettling for most Russians with many postponing their trips or travelling domestically.
I have been part of the Russian tourism industry from 1992 and have experienced first hand the double-digit expansion from a simple market to a massive tourism machine that has been responsible for substantial income for many destinations/countries. This ‘crisis’ has naturally affected most destinations but the market has always been resilient and will gradually start to re-build.
The Rouble devaluation primarily hit the lower end of the market but as we also note with our Real Estate business, the higher end of the market continues as many people still have a great distrust of Russian banks and have kept their savings in hard currency accounts.
Our figures are based on a visitor survey held at each of our exhibitions and are designed as an indicative guide for the sentiment of the market. The questions are asked openly and are not biased. We were pleasantly surprised with the results as were the participants at the Exhibition who still found that interest in treatment abroad remained strong. There is some natural down-pricing as some clients, for example, find German treatment too expensive and are looking for alternatives, but still our German participants appeared satisfied with the results. Naturally only time will tell if an enquiry turns into a booking.
I would be happy to send you a copy of the complete Medical Tourism from Russia report for Spring 2015 if you would like to read the full content.
These are challenging times in Moscow but the quality of life does not appear to have been compromised. There will be many changes shortly and it will take some time for the economy to recover, however tremendous wealth was accumulated over the last decade as the middle class grew. At least it is summer and the sun is shining!
Kim Waddoup (17/06/2015 11:22:35)
Kim
You claim that Russian outbound medical tourism is still expanding and that outbound travel is rebounding.
Official Russian figures just out do not support this claim
Now we have official Russian figures for outbound tourism for the first three months of 2015. Some may argue that rises and falls in tourism do not affect medical tourism, but looking at global and European figures in recent years, medical tourism does follow tourism numbers up and down very closely.
The number of Russians leaving home for non business trips dropped 40.3 %during the first quarter 2015, according to official figures from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). This is on top of falling figures for the last three months of 2014.
While 3.1 million Russians went on an international trip during the first quarter of 2014, that figure dropped to 1.8 million during the same period of 2015- a massive drop of 1.3 million.
Greece, Italy and Spain lost between 26 and 41 % of their Russian visitors, while Austria, Germany and France lost between 30 and 50%. Even Turkey and Egypt lost significant percentages of their Russian visitors, 36 and 26 %, respectively.
South Korea, Israel and Finland have admitted that Russian medical tourist numbers have fallen dramatically.
Some people have tried to claim that Russians have just switched to other countries such as Germany- although Germany has stayed silent on this and the figures above suggest that Germany is suffering too.
An order from President Putin prohibits public sector employees from receiving medical treatment abroad even if using their own money.
The hardest hit is the collapse of value of the ruble both within Russia and on foreign currency rates. Fewer Russians can afford overseas treatment and those that can have problems in paying and find that the relative cost has increased to an extent that it may no longer be good value.
Sheba hospital has seen its 2012 income from the industry of 120 million shekel halved by 2014, says Professor Zeev Rotstein -“For the average Russian, the cost of Israeli medical treatment, priced in US dollars, has doubled.”
Finland has reported numbers down by 40% in late 2014 and has now gone so quiet one wonders if they have any business now.
Your own figures above suggest Israel and Germany have 44% of the potential market but both are seeing falls and Israel does not expect numbers to increase in 2015-if anything they expect it to get worse.
Ian Youngman (15/06/2015 16:24:55)
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