Main Article Content
Abstract
Medical tourism, not only provides growth opportunities for the medical sector of the host country but also helps in tourism development. According to a recent market research report on medical tourism, “global medical tourism market was valued at approximately USD 15.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to generate revenue of around USD 28.0 billion by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of around 8.8% between 2018 and 2024”. Emerging economies with medical expertise and facilities with tourism resources are pushing for medical tourism. Hence, some of the popular destinations for medical tourism are emerging economies like India, Mexico, Malaysia, and Turkey among others.istorically, India has always been famous for its spiritual and natural healing image, which has brought people in search of tranquillity to our country. But for the past decade, international tourists are coming to India for modern medical procedures. The Indian healthcare sector, particularly the private entities, boast state-of-the-art infrastructure along with well-qualified practitioners. This has led to foreign tourists coming in for affordable treatment, while eventually allowing for tourism at other sites of the country. India’s medical facilities are famous for fertility, oncology, heart bypass surgery, orthopaedic and spine treatment. The number of foreign tourists coming to India for medical treatments has increased considerably in the past few years. The estimated number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India for the medical purpose was Rs 2.34 lakh in 2015 which almost doubled to Rs 4.27 lakh in 2016.