Experts: The Health Tourism Industry Is at a Critical Period of Transformation and Upgrading

What are the key driving forces behind the transformation and upgrading of the AI health tourism industry?

Beijing News (Reporter Zhang Jianlin) reported that on March 23, the China Tourism Association held a seminar on new tourism productivity. Wang Chunfeng, Secretary General of the Health Tourism Branch of the China Tourism Association, stated that the health tourism industry is currently in a critical period of transformation and upgrading. Driven by diverse demands such as silver aging health care, middle-aged wellness, and youth health preservation, industry innovation is accelerating. Technology empowerment and policy dividends will speed up cross-sector integration of “medical + health care + ecology.”

This year, the government work report proposed that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, high-quality development of cultural tourism should be prioritized, enriching integrated formats such as cultural, tourism, sports, and commerce; unreasonable restrictions in consumption should be cleared to unleash potential in cultural tourism, events, and health care; promoting two-way flow of urban and rural factors; deepening the integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism; and improving policies supporting elderly products, elderly financial services, and travel-based elderly care.

The “14th Five-Year Plan” outline emphasizes focusing on national health, smart elderly care, cultural tourism, and home services, cultivating new growth points in lifestyle service industries; expanding integrated applications in education, medical care, elderly care, cultural tourism, employment, and consumption; stimulating the vitality of improved consumption; expanding cultural, sports, and tourism consumption; and deepening the integration of business, travel, culture, sports, and health to create immersive and interactive new consumption scenarios.

“Health tourism demand stems from health needs. The potential of a market ultimately depends on the scale and rigidity of its demand side,” Wang Chunfeng said. The support for health tourism demand continues to grow. Taking the elderly population as an example, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that by the end of 2025, China’s population aged 60 and above will reach 320 million, accounting for 23% of the total population. By around 2035, this group is expected to surpass 400 million. The large elderly population, combined with increased health awareness nationwide, jointly drives the continuous expansion of the health and wellness tourism market.

Research also shows that as China’s per capita GDP and disposable income increase, consumer perceptions of tourism are changing significantly, bringing health tourism into more people’s view. Public data indicates that by the end of 2025, the total scale of China’s health service industry will exceed 1.15 trillion yuan, with health and wellness travel consumption surpassing 200 billion yuan.

Wang Chunfeng stated that the “Healthy China 2030” plan has established a health-priority development strategy, shifting the focus of health work from “treatment-centered” to “people’s health-centered.” With the socialization of health governance, the concept of “prevention first” has gained richer connotations and broader practical scenarios.

Recently, the China Tourism Association’s Health Tourism Branch released the “China Health Tourism Industry Development Report (2025).” The report mentions that regionally, health tourism has formed three major patterns: the eastern coastal area as a hub for medical health and seaside healing; the central and western inland areas as zones for ecological health and cultural healing; and the northeast three provinces as areas for ice and snow sports and forest health. Meanwhile, industry entities are becoming more diverse, including medical institutions, tourism companies, real estate firms, and tech companies.

The report points out that current demand in the health tourism market shows a layered characteristic, with four core groups: silver aging health care, middle-aged wellness, youth health preservation, and international medical tourists. Consumer behavior is evolving toward younger, remote, and diversified participation, with participation across all age groups becoming more prominent. In niche markets, five types—traditional Chinese medicine health care, medical health, hot spring health, forest health, and cultural health—each have their own features. Typical cases like Boao Lecheng in Hainan and Yiling Health City demonstrate successful development models such as “medical special zones” and “integrated medical and health care.”

Editor: Bai Shuang

Proofreader: Chen Diyan