There is a type of travel that keeps growing in China, year after year, and most foreign clinics still market it the wrong way. It is called medical tourism, or what Chinese patients themselves call 出境医疗 (outbound medical travel). During a medical trip, travelers book plastic surgery, health checkups, disease treatment, fertility procedures, or rehabilitation, and they combine it with a holiday. I have watched this market from Shanghai for over a decade, and I want to explain why it is developing so fast, and how your clinic or hospital can win a share of it in 2026.
Philip Chen is the CEO of GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency), a digital marketing agency based in Shanghai that has helped 600+ international brands grow in China. He has worked with overseas clinics, hospitals, and medical travel agencies on Chinese patient acquisition since 2013.
Medical Tourism Market in China: The Basics
Medical tourism (MT) is usually defined as patients traveling from highly developed nations to less developed areas of the world for medical care, bypassing services offered in their own communities. Wikipedia
China flips that definition. Chinese medical travelers are not looking for cheaper care. They are middle class and upper middle class patients from tier 1 cities who fly to Japan, Korea, Thailand, or Switzerland for better service, shorter waiting times, treatments not yet approved at home, and privacy. The industry still has no single agreed name for the phenomenon, and you will see it linked to globalization of healthcare policies. What matters for you is simple: these patients pay out of pocket, they research everything online, and they decide before they ever contact you.
See also the official website of the medical tourism association.
Tourism Market in China
The Attraction of Medical Tourism in 2026
Travelers from metropolitan cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai were the first movers on this trend, and they still lead it. Specialized medical tours to Japan, Korea, and Thailand attract hundreds of thousands of Chinese visitors every year. Japan is the clearest example. Combining sightseeing with a precision health checkup (精密体检) makes Japan a unique destination for Chinese travelers, especially women aged 30 to 55. Some groups travel mainly for the medical part, and the sightseeing is just a cherry on top.
The numbers back this up. Chinese patients account for around 70% of medical stay visas issued by Japan, according to data compiled by JTB Tourism Research. Industry estimates put the total at roughly 800,000 Chinese patients traveling abroad for treatment each year, and Chinese financial media Lanjinger projects the Chinese outbound medical travel market will reach 20 billion USD by 2028. Thailand alone expects more than one million medical visitors from China in a single year, feeding a Thai medical tourism industry valued at 8.6 billion USD in 2025 and heading toward 9.5 billion USD in 2026.
Three segments grew fastest after the 2023 reopening:
- Precision health checkups in Japan: cancer screening packages sold as 2-day itineraries with a Tokyo or Osaka shopping extension.
- Fertility treatment: Chinese regulation restricts access to IVF and egg freezing for unmarried women, so Thailand, Malaysia, and the US capture that demand. I wrote about this in detail in China’s fertility market and why women seek IVF abroad.
- Aesthetics in Korea: Seoul’s Gangnam clinics rebuilt their Chinese patient pipelines, this time through content platforms rather than tour operators.
More information about:
- How to promote your hotel to Chinese tourists?
- Chinese Student Tourist
- The Ultimate Guide To Recruit Chinese Students
Competition in China Outbound Medical Tourism
In this high-yield market, some countries have already built a strong reputation in the minds of Chinese patients. Positioning matters here more than in almost any other industry, because a patient who believes “Korea is for faces” will not even consider your Korean clinic for a knee operation.
Top Countries for Medical Tourism for Chinese Patients (Source: China Tourism Academy)
In the mind of most Chinese patients:
- Korea and Japan are the experts in facial surgery and aesthetics
- Thailand is the reference for spa, wellness, and specialized surgery, and now fertility
- India owns yoga and wellness retreats
- Turkey offers seawater therapy, and now hair transplants
- Switzerland is the top choice for detoxification and anti-aging clinics
- France has a strong reputation in cardiology
- Germany is famous for the quality of its hospitals
- The USA is known for aesthetic surgery among celebrities, and for oncology
- Australia has a great image in China for “natural health”
The countries selling medical tours keep strengthening their promotion. Thailand in particular pushes news about its medical advantages through the most powerful media in China: Ren Min and Xin Hua (the state news agencies), plus Sina and Tencent (the biggest portals). If your destination is not doing this work at the national level, your clinic has to do it at the brand level.
How to Promote Medical Tourism in China?
A Chinese Website Is Still Step One
A website in Mandarin is necessary to enter the market and build your brand. It is the most efficient way to raise the profile of your services, influence patients with content and design, and shape your image in the country. Chinese consumers spend a large part of their day online, and they trust Chinese-language websites far more than English ones. For a medical brand, trust is the entire game. Your Chinese site needs credentials, doctor profiles, accreditation logos, and prices presented the Chinese way. I detail this in our guide to medical and healthcare marketing best practices in China.
Xiaohongshu: Where Medical Decisions Are Made
This is the biggest change since I first wrote this article. In 2026, the patient journey for outbound medical care starts on Xiaohongshu (小红书, also called RED or Rednote). The platform passed 300 million monthly active users, around 70% of them women, and it is the default search engine for anything related to health, beauty, and travel. A Chinese woman considering a checkup in Osaka or egg freezing in Bangkok will read dozens of first-person notes before she contacts anyone. See our updated Xiaohongshu statistics and user demographics for the full picture.
What works for clinics on Xiaohongshu:
- Patient journey content: airport pickup, the interpreter, the ward, the meal tray. Chinese patients want to see the process, not stock photos.
- Doctor-led accounts: a surgeon explaining a procedure in simple terms outperforms any ad. KOL doctors are the most trusted voice in this category.
- Price transparency posts: “what my checkup in Japan really cost” is one of the highest-engagement formats in the niche.
WeChat: From Broadcast to Private Domain
WeChat, known as Weixin in China, is still the number one platform, now with over 1.3 billion users. It combines messaging, official accounts, mini programs, and payments. But its role in medical travel has changed. Ten years ago, brands used WeChat to broadcast articles. Today, WeChat is your private domain (私域): the place where a lead from Xiaohongshu or Baidu becomes a patient. The consultation happens in a 1-on-1 chat, in Mandarin, with a coordinator who answers within minutes. Medical travel is a high-anxiety purchase. Put yourself in the patient’s shoes: would you book surgery in a foreign country without a WeChat consultation in your own language first? 😊
The basic WeChat setup for a clinic:
- Open a verified official account, which acts as your business card in China.
- Build an e-brochure or mini program presenting doctors, packages, and prices.
- Move every inquiry into 1-on-1 conversations, then nurture with case content and follow-ups until booking.
SEO on Baidu
SEO on Baidu remains the key to visibility for higher-intent searches like “日本体检费用” (Japan checkup cost). Baidu is still the most used search engine in China, offering web search, image search, forums, and a Q&A service. Ranking on Baidu requires different steps from Google: an ICP-friendly hosting setup, Chinese-language content, and backlinks from Chinese domains.
Trust and reputation stay essential for any company entering the Chinese market. Keyword optimization, backlinks, and content sharing generate quality traffic over time. Compared with paid search, SEO takes longer, but it is the stable long-term play for your e-reputation. Rankings do not vanish when you pause a campaign; the traffic keeps coming. One warning from experience: Baidu applies extra scrutiny to medical advertisers, so paid medical campaigns require certification documents and patience.
E-reputation and PR
Public relations is one of the pillars of any digital strategy in China. Beyond attracting visitors to your website, you need to raise brand awareness and make your clinic visible through online Chinese media. Your message must match your positioning and your target patients. And choose online media over offline: almost all PR activity in this sector now happens on the internet. For the wider health context, read our analysis of the hospital market in China.
Regulatory Caution: Watch What You Claim
One thing I tell every medical client in 2026: China tightened the rules on medical advertising, and platforms enforce them. In August 2025, SAMR, the National Health Commission, and the TCM administration issued guidelines on identifying medical service advertisements, including disguised ones. In the first half of 2025 alone, regulators investigated 1,666 illegal medical advertising cases and issued 12.78 million RMB in fines, according to CMS Law. Patient testimonials used as ads, doctor endorsements in promotional content, and guaranteed-result claims are all risky. Overseas clinics get some flexibility because the treatment happens abroad, but the platforms hosting your content are Chinese, and they moderate accordingly. Educational content, process transparency, and verifiable credentials are the safe route. Miracle claims get your account suspended.
Case Study: A Bangkok Fertility Clinic Rebuilt on Xiaohongshu
Here is an anonymized example of the modern playbook. A private fertility clinic in Bangkok came to us after the reopening. Their Chinese patient volume had depended entirely on medical travel agents taking 30 to 40% commissions, and that channel had collapsed. We rebuilt their acquisition around direct demand. Step one: a Xiaohongshu account run in the voice of their Chinese-speaking patient coordinator, posting the real journey, including the lab tour, the interpreter service, and honest cost breakdowns for IVF packages. Step two: every comment and DM was routed to a WeChat consultation within 24 hours. Step three: a Baidu-optimized Chinese site answered the questions the notes could not, with doctor credentials and success-rate documentation phrased carefully to respect advertising rules. After nine months, the clinic was getting around 60 qualified WeChat consultations per month from content, and direct bookings passed what the agent channel had delivered at its peak, at roughly a third of the acquisition cost. The mechanism is simple: Xiaohongshu creates trust, WeChat converts it, Baidu catches the searchers. No single channel works alone.
Study Case: ILaya
Ilaya was founded in 2011 to help couples realize their dream of becoming parents. Ilaya specializes in advanced medical technologies aiming to treat disease with minimal intervention in the body, which cuts patient recovery time significantly. GMA worked with Ilaya to increase their visibility in China and attract leads from Chinese patients.
FAQ: Marketing Medical Tourism to Chinese Patients
How long does it take to get Chinese patient leads from zero?
Plan for 3 to 6 months before consistent lead flow. A Chinese website and WeChat account can be live in weeks, but trust takes longer to build. Xiaohongshu accounts typically need 30 to 50 posts before the algorithm gives real reach, and Baidu SEO needs a few months to rank. Paid campaigns can accelerate this, but medical advertisers face extra verification steps on every Chinese platform, so prepare your licenses and accreditation documents before you start.
Do I need a Chinese-speaking patient coordinator?
Yes, and this is non-negotiable. Chinese patients expect consultations in Mandarin on WeChat, with response times measured in minutes, not days. Clinics that route Chinese inquiries to an English-language contact form lose the lead almost every time. If you cannot hire in-house, work with a partner who manages the WeChat conversations for you. The coordinator is often the deciding factor between two clinics with similar medical credentials.
Should I work with medical travel agents or go direct?
Both, but do not depend on agents alone. Agents deliver volume quickly and take 30 to 40% commissions, and they own the patient relationship, not you. Direct channels like Xiaohongshu, WeChat, and Baidu cost more upfront but give you lower acquisition costs over time and patients who chose your brand specifically. The strongest clinics we work with run agents for baseline volume and build direct demand in parallel.
What content converts best for medical tourism?
Process transparency beats promotion. The best-performing formats are real patient journeys (with consent and anonymization), honest cost breakdowns, doctor-led explainers, and comparisons between destinations. Chinese patients research obsessively before a medical trip, so the clinic that answers questions most clearly wins the consultation. Avoid superlatives and guaranteed results: they trigger content moderation on Chinese platforms and savvy readers distrust them anyway.
Is Douyin useful for medical tourism marketing?
It can be, but treat it as a secondary channel. Douyin reaches a huge audience and short doctor videos can go viral, yet its users are in entertainment mode, and medical content moderation is strict. Xiaohongshu users are in research mode, which fits a high-consideration purchase like surgery or a checkup abroad much better. Start with Xiaohongshu plus WeChat plus Baidu, then add Douyin once those three run well.
Work With GMA on Your China Patient Strategy
GMA is a digital marketing agency based in Shanghai, specialized in reaching Chinese consumers, with more than a decade of experience in healthcare and outbound medical tourism for overseas clinics and hospitals.
We build the full patient acquisition system: Chinese website, Baidu SEO, Xiaohongshu content, WeChat private domain, and PR in Chinese media, with the regulatory guardrails this industry demands.
Contact us here and tell us about your clinic: we will come back with a frank assessment of your potential in the Chinese market.
If you want more information about China’s tourism market, read the following articles:
