With the global wellness industry projected to reach US$7 trillion in 2025, Chevala Wellness, a new business under the Liptapanlop family, aims to capitalise on the trend by rolling out five branches domestically in two years before expanding to other countries.
The company's wellness centre launched in Hua Hin last month with an investment of 70 million baht and another branch is set to open in Phuket or Samui within this year, said Ratkawin Jitawatanarat, medical director at Chevala.
"Despite the economic downturn, the medical wellness industry in Thailand has seen annual growth of 8% since the pandemic, while the global trend also looks promising with a forecast that it will grow by 9.9% per year before reaching $7 trillion in value in 2025. We anticipate earnings of 800 million to 1 billion baht and gaining annual profit of 15% once fully operating five branches," she said.
The Liptapanlop family, which also owns the InterContinental Hua Hin Resort opposite the wellness centre, has put together a combined medical wellness package, starting from 9,500 baht for a half-day programme to 200,000 baht for an 8-day all inclusive programme.
By positioning itself as the medical-grade wellness, targeting the premium market, Ms Ratkawin said Chevala benchmarks itself with existing players such as BDMS Wellness and RAKxa Wellness.
"As our competitors are focusing on Bangkok and nearby areas, we will shift our focus to key tourism cities nationwide by setting a target to gain a market share of 25% in medical wellness services in each province we expand into within 2025," she said.
The company anticipates average daily spending of 8,000-15,000 baht per head per day.
However, once the country gains greater momentum from the full reopening, the proportion of foreign customers will increase from 50% to 70%.
Chevala is operated by Med Destination Co with a registered capital of 10 million baht, of which the Liptapanlop family holds the biggest share at 25%.
It would like to expand its business to overseas market which have famous wellness cities, such as CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam) and the Maldives. These would mostly be joint venture projects with local investors.
Suwat Liptapanlop, a former deputy prime minister, said Thailand has the potential to boost tourism receipts to 30% from 15% of GDP within a few years by setting Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) and medical wellness industry as new economic drivers.
Tourism contributed about 15% to GDP prior to the pandemic. Thailand can comfortably add another 5% from Mice revenue and 10% from medical wellness as the country already has a strong reputation in these two categories.
"The average spending from medical wellness tourism was three times higher than regular leisure travellers. If Thailand can share only 0.5% of the global value of medical wellness, the local economy could earn at least an additional 1.25 trillion baht," said Mr Suwat.
He said the government should set a clear policy and roadmap, along with a responsible body to drive the plan which should focus on integration between related agencies rather than using a massive fiscal budget.
Mr Suwat suggests using incentives from the Board of Investment to support investment in the medical wellness industry or support medical product imports to strengthen the standard of services in Thailand.
He said as the government has a constrained fiscal budget at the moment, it should look for industries which require low investment but give high returns.
