DUBAI // The city is hoping to attract 170,000 medical tourists in 2016, officials have said.
Aesthetic procedures and surgeries, wellness check-ups and fertility treatments have been highlighted as services that could attract medical tourists to the emirate.
The topic was discussed during the first Regional Health Regulation Conference, organised by the Dubai Health Authority and INDEX Conferences & Exhibitions at the Conrad Hotel, Dubai, on Wednesday.
“We do have a lot of tourists coming over but we want to increase that number and to facilitate their treatment,” said Dr Layla Al Marzouqi, acting director of the DHA’s health regulation department.
The authority is partnering with the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Emirates Airline and private healthcare providers, among others, to offer a package for tourists that would include visas, flights and hotel stays, hospital stays and after-treatment care, as well as leisure activities. The package is set to be launched in 2015, said Dr Al Marzouqi.
The effort is part of a plan to establish Dubai as an eminent world medical travel destination by 2020.
“In 2012, we had around 107,000 medical tourists that came into Dubai and the income generated was Dh653 million,” said Linda Abdullah Ali, head of the medical tourism office at the DHA’s health regulation department.
Travellers from the GCC and Russia accounted for the largest share of medical tourists, with visitors from African countries such as Nigeria and Angola also growing.
“We are aiming for 2016 to attract 170,000 medical tourists, which is benchmarked with the increase in the most advanced countries in medical tourism,” she said. “We are hoping to generate income of around Dh1.1 billion.”
By 2020, Dubai aims to generate an estimated Dh2.6bn from medical tourism, she said.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
