CMTF Beijing Opens November 19: Inside the Biggest Show From China’s Largest Medical Tourism Exhibition Organizer

The largest organizer of medical tourism exhibitions in China stages its biggest show of the year next week. Here’s who will be there, what’s on the program, and how to get the most out of three days on the floor.

If you work with Chinese patients, or want to, one week on the calendar matters more than most. It starts next Thursday in Beijing.

The 28th Beijing International Medical Tourism Fair opens on November 19 at the China International Exhibition Center in Chaoyang. It’s run by Zhenghe Exhibition Group, the largest organizer of medical tourism exhibitions in China. The company launched the CMTF series in 2015 and now tours it through Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing each year, with conferences in cities such as Hangzhou and Chengdu.

Beijing is the biggest stop on that tour. The organizer expects more than 300 medical institutions from over 30 countries and regions including the United States, Russia, the UAE, Japan, Thailand and Georgia. It forecasts about 25,000 visits across the three days.

One hall, four events

CMTF Beijing isn’t a single show. Three other events share the floor: the World Summit on Assisted Reproductive Technology, the 12th International Functional Medicine and Longevity Technology Innovation Conference, and the 19th Cell Biology Industry, Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Conference.

For visitors, that means range. A hospital’s international department, an IVF agency and a health-screening company can all find their counterparts in one building. The published agenda fills four conference rooms from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon.

The crowd is mixed too. Referral agents and facilitators come to meet hospitals. Hospitals come to find distribution partners. Tourism boards come to pitch their countries. The organizer’s site lists the Japan National Tourism Organization, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council and the Tourism Authority of Thailand among its support partners.

Sessions worth circling

Start with Thursday morning. The International Healthcare Industry Forum opens in Conference Room 1 at 9:30. Among the early speakers is Adel Hussein Ali Ahmad, who directs the Dubai Health Authority’s investment and health tourism office and will present Dubai’s case as a health travel hub. Japanese hospitals follow in the afternoon, with talks on proton therapy and cancer care from Southern Tohoku General Hospital.

Fertility gets two full days. The assisted reproduction summit runs Thursday and Friday in Conference Room 4, with clinics from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico and the U.S. on the schedule. Two Friday afternoon items stand out for anyone who cares about patient safety. A Beijing attorney will speak on compliance risks in cross-border IVF consulting. A roundtable will then take on quality and safety in cross-border assisted reproduction.

Saturday belongs to inbound care. That’s the newer story in China: foreign patients coming in, not just Chinese patients going out. In March, the Ministry of Commerce and eight other government bodies called for international medical tourism clusters and closer work with global insurers. CMTF gave the subject two sessions in Hangzhou in September. Beijing gives it a full day.

The show floor follows the same shift. In its announcement of the inbound program, the organizer said Beijing would get a larger inbound exhibition area and more invitations to overseas referral channels, with northern China’s top-tier public hospitals and international hospitals as the main targets. The section isn’t only for hospitals and agents. Medical interpreters, insurers, payment providers and companies that handle patient reception are part of the intended audience too.

Doreen Feng, who heads the international medical service line at United Family Hospital, will speak on how China can become a destination for international patients. Charles Poon, general manager and medical director of Beijing Raffles Hospital, will describe how his hospital applies Singapore standards in China. Berlin Liu of insurer MSH China will cover two-way cross-border care from the payer’s side. A roundtable at 11:10 asks the practical question: what makes an overseas patient willing to come, able to come, and likely to return?

Why Beijing draws the crowd

China remains one of the world’s largest sources of outbound patients, and destinations compete hard for them. Before CMTF’s Shenzhen show in July, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council chief executive Suriaghandi Suppiah called China “one of Malaysia Healthcare’s most significant” source markets.

Beijing adds something the southern shows don’t. It puts foreign providers close to the capital’s hospital groups, national associations and regulators. For a hospital in Bangkok or Tokyo that wants a referral partner in northern China, three days here can replace several separate trips.

The series has history behind it. By the organizer’s count, CMTF has hosted about 4,000 hospitals, institutions and companies from more than 60 countries and regions since 2015, as as 80% of past exhibitors have taken part more than twice.

Here is some highlights from last year’s event;

Making three days count

A big floor rewards a plan. As we noted in our earlier coverage of CMTF’s 2026 schedule, pre-arranged meetings tell you more about a show’s value than headline visitor numbers. Book yours before you land.

Can’t make Beijing? The organizer says the tour moves to the Shanghai Exhibition Center in April 2027, with Chengdu and Shenzhen to follow.

Doors open Thursday morning. For questions about visiting or the agenda, the organizer’s international contact is Camellia Chen at camelliachenchen@gmail.com and +86 135 7021 9945. More details are on the official CMTF site.