Australian health professionals have been one of the loudest critics of medical tourism, with regular protests about the risks of people going to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand for dental and cosmetic surgery at much less than they pay in Australia. This makes it difficult for any medical professional to support those who now argue that the future for Australian inbound medical tourism is the Asian middle classes seeking elective and cosmetic surgery. Australia’s pitch to the Asian market is based on promoting superior health care, which is in itself particularly difficult to support in comparison to Singapore and the chance to recuperate on holiday. Australia is more expensive than the Asian countries it wants to attract business from. The Singaporean government has poured large sums into building the infrastructure and marketing medical tourism, the Australian government has not invested in developing an Australian industry. Another problem for Australia is that one area where is well regarded is cosmetic surgery, is a key market for those very same Asian countries it targets. A recent press report claimed that a leading proponent of medical tourism in Australia believed that Singapore has reached its capacity so Australia should be positioning itself to capture the medical tourists Singapore can no longer accommodate. There is no evidence of capacity problems in Singapore as the country is rebuilding inbound numbers as the global economy recovers.
 
Australia does have one niche, including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), where it is held in high regard worldwide.  Matt Hingerty believes that Australia’s climate and landscape make it an attractive destination, “We have spare capacity in our private health system. We have world-class medical specialists in a range of fields, a clean environment, an open economy, a well-understood legal system and we are a safe destination.”

A medical tourism agency set up to promote New Zealand as a destination for medical tourists is using backing from Sir Stephen Tindall to attract Americans with healthcare prices at what it claims are as little as a third of what they pay in the United States. Medtral has opened an office in California and began a marketing campaign targeting Americans in search of cheap elective surgery through Auckland-based Ascot Hospital and Clinics. A heart bypass is on offer via Medtral for US$37,000 including flights and insurance, as little as 30 % of the cost of the procedure alone in the United States, according to the firm's promotional material.

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