Guangzhou targets medical tourism

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, is sparing no effort to build a globally competitive destination for international medical tourism, with the launch of the Guangzhou International Medical Tourism Service Center recently.

The center will collaborate with the city's 17 pilot hospitals to offer international medical services for foreign patients, including authoritative diagnosis and treatment.

Leveraging the cultural, commercial and tourism resources of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it will also engage in international brand marketing, medical agency services, travel arrangements, as well as wellness and healthcare, promoting the synergy and integration of medical, tourism and urban service resources.

Lai Zhihong, vice-mayor of Guangzhou, said international medical tourism has recently become an important growth driver in the global health industry.

Relying on its high-quality medical resources, unique Lingnan culture, open environment and advantages as a transportation hub, demand for medical treatment and healthcare in Guangzhou has continued to grow in recent years, Lai said at the launch ceremony of the center.

He urged medical personnel across the city to treat foreign patients with excellent medical services, exquisite expertise and noble medical ethics to help build the city into an international consumption hub with high-quality and distinctive medical services.

Official data shows that inbound passenger visits by foreigners to Guangzhou in 2025 exceeded 3.2 million, with foreign residents' demand for medical services growing rapidly.

Chen Bin, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission, said Guangzhou has introduced 12 innovative measures to support the development of international medical services. "The new innovative measures will focus on key areas such as building an international medical service brand, optimizing industrial spatial layout, constructing an international medical center, and fostering strengths in specialized medical disciplines and technologies," Chen said.

The innovative measures facilitate multisite practice in Guangzhou for foreign doctors and nurses as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, while supporting pilot medical institutions in setting up specially appointed positions to recruit high-end international medical talent and attract high-level professionals through multiple channels.

Chen said medical institutions and hospitals are urged to further promote traditional Chinese medicine and build high-level acupuncture diagnosis and treatment centers to strengthen international services, offering foreign patients featured TCM medical services.

According to Wang Zilian, vice-president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, the measures provide a strong guarantee for the delivery of efficient and high-quality international medical services.

"Based on their existing international medical centers, hospitals will continue to improve their independent diagnosis and treatment environments and multilingual service systems, enhance multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment capabilities, and further provide high-quality medical services to patients from Hong Kong, Macao, Southeast Asia, and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative," Wang said.

Wu Chen, general manager of the Guangzhou International Medical Tourism Service Center, said the center not only serves medical tourism functions but also focuses on integrating Guangzhou's high-quality medical resources, distinctive cultural tourism assets and cross-border commercial insurance to support the city's development into an international consumption hub and cultivate new drivers of health consumption.

"The center will focus on strengthening comprehensive service capabilities, promoting integrated industrial development, and expanding global cooperation networks to create a product system that deeply integrates medical care, wellness and tourism in the following months," she said.

Meanwhile, the center will also collaborate with major local hospitals to provide overseas patients with one-stop international medical services covering visa assistance, remote pre-consultation, multilingual translation, travel and accommodation arrangements, as well as postoperative follow-up, Wu added.