South Africa Offers More Than a Safari

South Africa's Wild Medical Tourism 

With more than just exotic wildlife, year round sunny weather, exciting culture, and fabulous beaches in store, South Africa is fast emerging as a medical tourism hub.  The country has packaged and branded unique "medical safari packages" that combine a holiday in beautiful South Africa, complete with a wildlife safari to watch the Big 5, with a cosmetic surgery procedure at one of the country's renowned hospitals, at a fraction of the prices back home. 

South Africa Lone Player on Regional Medical Tourism Stage

It helps South Africa that there are no other major medical tourism destinations on the continent (although this could easily change in the future).  This places the country in the enviable position of attracting low cost healthcare shoppers who want to combine a safari and a holiday by the beach with a liposuction surgery or nose job.  Much like Asian countries have carved out a reputation for high-end life-saving surgeries, and Eastern European nations are banking on their dentists to draw in medical tourism travelers, South Africa is wooing people in search of a perfect visage or phenomenal body.  The cost of a liposuction package, for instance, often includes the cost of the procedure, safari, accommodation at a five star game lodge, and more.  Most of the medical tourism travelers who currently visit the country come from the continent, including from neighbors like Nigeria, where the wealthy now prefer to stop by next door for their medical and cosmetic surgery needs instead of taking a flight to the US or Europe.

On the face of it, South Africa has all it takes to become a hot medical tourism destination.  However, it’s a long haul destination, and that might push travelers away to other cosmetic surgery destinations like Mexico that are not only closer, but that also have a reputation for high quality work at low prices.  The South African industry, however, is banking on its unique natural diversity and cultural heritage to lure tourists.  If the attraction of recuperating from a nose job in the seclusion of a luxury game reserve holds, then Mexico and other cosmetic surgery meccas could find themselves with stiff competition.

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