Fosun launches health-tourism product

Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun International launched a new product on Friday that integrates its two major business sectors - health and tourism.

The six-day product will be first made available at Japan's well-known travel destination Hokkaido. Priced at 39,000 yuan ($6,140) per person, the trip includes accommodation, medical checkups, dining at designated restaurants, shuttle services for specified routes and entrance tickets for some tourist attractions. Prices will change subject to different holiday seasons.

Tourists will be put up at Club Med Sahoro for the first two nights where they can enjoy the local food and scenery. They will be staying at Sapporo for the rest of the days, during which they will receive a complete medical checkup at the local Otaru General Hospital.

The checkup includes all the regular ones such as blood tests and urine analysis, as well as the less common PET-CT examinations for tumor markers. Shuttle service is provided for the up and down trips to the hospital. An interpreter will escort the tourists during the checkup process.

The first trip is expected to start on March 22.

Guo Chao, general manager of Fosun's health insurance department, said Chinese consumers have shown strong purchasing interest in luxury cars, handbags and overseas trips. But they do not spend as much for highend medical services as Western consumers. Therefore, Fosun has come up with this product to tap the niche from the ongoing consumption upgrading in China.

Chen Qiyu, chairman of Fosun Pharmaceutical, said the travel sector has been developing rapidly in China as well as for Fosun. In this sense, health businesses have to catch up in terms of growth rate. In the future, the company will come up with more similar products both at home and abroad, stressing more on multiple choices and personalized itineraries.

Fosun said they will introduce more health travel products in Europe, North America and Japan this year to cater to the need of over 30 million Fosun family clients.

The capability of providing such travel products in the overseas market can be largely attributed to Fosun's overseas footprint. It acquired French resort group Club Med for 950 million euros ($1.2 billion) in 2015. Earlier this month, it became the majority shareholder of French fashion house Lanvin with an estimated 120 million euros takeover.

The group announced on Friday that it had taken full control of Austrian luxury lingerie and leg-wear specialist Wolford for 55 million euros.