At the same time, there is a growing competition in medical and health tourism which is a growing field in international trade. These patients were part of an expanding global trade in medical tourism which the board valued at USD 40 billion worldwide and with global growth potential of some 20% per year. While hard statistics on the value of health-related travel remain patchy and tend to underestimate activity, they show that OECD countries consumed more than USD 5 billion worth of healthcare services abroad in 2008.