Several medical tour groups from China will come to Taiwan in the latter part of the year, the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said Monday. TAITRA Deputy Secretary-General Walter Yeh said more groups were likely to come a day after the first 30-member medical tour group arrived from China for a six- day visit. The first tour group members checked into four medical centers around the country Monday for physical examinations. Thanks to the assistance of the TAITRA, the Guangzhou-based Zion Health Club reached an agreement in March with 13 medical centers and hospitals in Taiwan to organize medical tourism groups from China for the three-fold purpose of medical care, spa treatment and sightseeing. Zion Health Club is a subsidiary of the Women's World Spa Resort Group -- a Taiwanese-financed company that has at least 600,000 members around China. Yeh said that since last June to mid-June this year, the TAITRA has assisted 698 Chinese people to come to Taiwan for medical treatment and among them, 228 were for physical check-ups. Lin Hwai, chairperson of Guangzhou's Women's World, said that after the first group, the next group of 50 members is scheduled to arrive in late August. 'There will be five or six such groups to arrive by next Chinese New Year,' Lin said. TAITRA officials said Taiwan's advanced medical facilities and high standard of medical professionals have attracted the medical tour groups. It is estimated that one such group from the West Coast of the United States and two such groups from the East Coast, as well as several Chinese groups will arrive in the second half of this year. With Chinese tourists coming from relatively high income brackets, if each of them spend NT$200,000 in Taiwan, coupled with the group fee of NT$60,000 and the full physical fee of NT$20,000, then the first Chinese medical tour group could inject NT$8.4 million into the local economy, TAITRA officials said. Lin said that although the amount was not too high initially, it would definitely grow given the marked improvement in relations between Taiwan and China. The TAITRA is scheduled to organize a group to visit northeastern China's Dalian and Qingdao this October to promote Taiwan's medical tourism. 