Rehab tourism: Thailand's latest travel niche

We've all heard of Thailand’s global appeal as a medical tourism destination, with people flying in for everything from hip replacements to breast implants. But these days a somewhat unlikely source of tourism dollars is growing in popularity: rehab.

Singapore’s Asiaone.com reports that wealthy Singaporean executives and entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly common at resort-like drug and alcohol rehab centers in Thailand, including Kanchanaburi’s Channah Thailand and Chiang Mai’s Breathing Space Thailand.

Guests of Channah Thailand spend 28 days in a small wooden bungalow on the banks of the River Kwai to undergo drug and alcohol rehabilitation. A report in the Bangkok Post last year quoted the U.K. owner as saying his clients come from all over the world, including Australia, Bhutan, Canada, Egypt, European countries, India, Pakistan and the Middle East.