Travel News June 2007

Medical Tourism

Medical tourism to touch $1.5 bn by 2010

India promotes med, rain tourism for Gulf and Arabian tourists

Medical tourism to touch $1.5 bn by 2010
Friday, May 04, 2007

The tourism industry can get a major boost if the hospitality industry, travel specialist (agents), state government and local people work collectively towards promoting medical tourism in India. This was one of the major issues discussed at an international seminar—Maharashtra Vision II—organised by the Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC), on Thursday.

‘‘Medical tourism is one of the most lucrative industry as it is anticipated to attract tourists from world over especially the UK, South Africa, Canada and Malaysia, and is expected to grow into a $1.5 billion industry by 2010,’’ said Abhijeet Patil of Raja Rani Health Alliance.

‘‘With increasing number of medical tourists coming to India, tour operators have immense opportunities to grab their own share of financial profits by way of fee-based agreements with the hospitals,’’ he added. Patil also noted that it is important to form an alliance of medical professionals and institutions to work towards the goal of promoting India as a medical tourism centre in a united consortium.

‘‘What we need is a panel of efficient doctors and hospitals to provide core of the treatment process, integrate the Maharashtra tourism development corporation (MTDC) to provide infrastructure support, set up alliances for marketing and promotion of activities,’’ said Sudhir Patil of Kesari Travels.

Vitthal Kamat of the Kamat Group of hotels echoed the same sentiments. ‘‘With most modern medical services infrastructure, availability of state-of-the-art hospitals and medical centres with modern amenities and technologies, world class facilities for traditional systems including naturopathy and ayurveda along with the world renowned tourist attractions and heritage places, tourism sector can grow leaps and bounds,’’ he said

Source: The Financial Express

India promotes med, rain tourism for Arabian tourists
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

To promote round-the-year tourism in the country, India has taken a number of initiatives to woo more tourists from the Arab nations, with a thrust on medical and rain tourism. "The Indian government aims to develop the country into a sustainable tourism destination.

"Various initiatives are under way in the tourism sector with the sole objective of attracting more visitors to the country," Sanjay Kothari, Additional Director-General in the Ministry of Tourism, told PTI. Kothari was here to take part in the Arabian Travel Market convention, which opened yesterday.

Indian states taking part in the four-day long event include -- Kerala, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Uttarakhand, Assam, Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Kothari said the tourism ministry has launched integrated international media campaigns to promote India as a must see tourist destination. The campaign focuses on both generic and niche areas to convert the country into a destination for 365 days a year.

The recent introduction of Medical Visa would help in the growth of medical tourism sector, Kothari said, adding under this visa, a patient along with an attendant can come to India for a period of one year, which can be extended further up to three years. "India is also a shopper's paradise with its traditional handicrafts from different regions of the country and modern shopping malls in various cities," he said.

Source: PTI via Economic Times