Medical Tourism: Trends and Challenges in Indian Scenario

Tourism is a kind of economic bonanza which significantly contribute to the growth of a state as well as a country. The rate of success of this industry is dependent upon a range of activities ranging from transportation to accommodation. These activities are: 1) Travel and transport facilities, 2) Accommodation, 3) Food and drink, 4) Entertainment/recreation, 5) Information and assistance and 6) Souvenirs. Medical tourism is a novel form of niche tourism gradually becoming popular in the present world and India has emerged as a popular destination for providing Global standards of health care at affordable costs. It mixes leisure, fun and relaxation together with wellness and healthcare. Within Asia, India, Thailand and Singapore are the three countries that receive maximum medical tourists owing to low cost of treatment, quality healthcare infrastructure, and availability of highly skilled doctors. More recently there has been a spatial shift in medical travel especially to Asian countries from advanced economies. Presently Indian health care sector is considered one of the largest tourism sector in terms of both revenue and workforce employment. Indian medical tourism industry is expected to reach $6 billion by 2018, with number of people arriving in the country for health treatment set to twice over next four year.

This research paper makes an effort to study reasons for the growth and trends of medical tourism in India, government‘s role in promoting Medical tourism, future prospect of the medical tourism of India.