The
Malaysian government is focusing its attention on its wellness business. It
says that the sector can contribute M$400 million (US$99.5 million) to the
country’s gross national income by 2020, and create 3,500 jobs, according to a
new report looking at Malaysia’s healthcare and wellness industry in PwC’s
Asia-Pacific Health Industries newsletter.
The
development potential is certainly there. Top of the list is the 210-acre
Medini Integrated Wellness Capital with a fully integrated community, 18 acres
of commercial development, and a 12.5-acre wellness sanctuary all bordered by a
mangrove forest. Helping it is a 4.6-acre urban wellness centre located between
the Mall of Medini and Gleneagles Medini
Hospital.
But there
are challenges. The report highlights two in particular. A proportion of the
population still associates the industry with the sex trade. On top of that,
because wellness centres in Malaysia are not regulated, there is a perception
that they are not professionally managed.
Steps
have been taken to overcome these problems. The latter has been addressed. The
National Spa Council was established to address matters concerning perceptions
about the local spa industry and the council has created an official criteria
rating for spas, which is now used by the ministry of tourism and culture.
But the
former problem remains harder to turn around. “Due to negative perceptions
about the industry it is difficult to recruit people - related to family
disapproval,” the report says.
Steps are
baby ones, but they are heading in the right direction. A target has been set
to reduce dependency on foreign workers and the ministry has also established
centres of excellence around the country to recruit and train locals to become
spa therapists.
“Investment
in health and wellness continues to increase, along with a rise in middle class
and consumer spending,” says report author Christopher Norton. As well as the
Medini project, other significant ones include the LOHAS Development - Wellness
Retreat in Boga Valley and the DSM - Integrated Wellness Community. Both
Thailand and Indonesia are the current spa capitals of Asia, but they would be
wrong to rest on their laurels.
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