USA Today shared Gerald Celente’s (Trends Journal) predictions of the top trends for 2007 in yesterday’s issue. Interesting that one of those trends is the same as what Spa Finder predicted for 2007 – a rise in medical tourism.

Here is how the Trends Journal describes medical tourism:

“American consumers will be “globetrotting to find the best prices for the best medical care,” seeking out overseas doctors to perform procedures not readily available or not covered by insurance. Celente calls this “medical outsourcing.”

Here is how Spa Finder described the same trend in last month’s press release:

“In 2007, more and more people will travel to another city, state or country for medical spa experiences, creating a new trend: medical tourism. A range of new technologies will attract these medical tourists – DNA analysis, for example, and new generations of anti-aging medicines, injectables and lasers. But another big draw will be cost. Squeezed by domestic health care costs, many Americans are going online and discovering global destinations that offer cutting-edge medical procedures for a fraction of the cost … often in beautiful, culturally rich locales like Bangkok, South Africa and India, to name a few.”


I think that when a trend gets noticed both inside and outside the spa industry, we can be quite sure that this trend is gathering steam.