Medical tourism from GCC on the rise to Germany
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According to figures from the Federal Statisti
cal Office, the number of overnight stays by visitors from abroad in the period from January to March 2012 rose by over 10% compared with the same period in 2011. Overall, almost 12.3 million overnight stays by international visitors were recorded between the start of the year and the end of March, with significant increases in the major source markets.
New official numbers confirm not only that Germany is continuously on the rise among international travellers but all the data and projections point to medical travel as the real ‘rising star’ of tourist industry.
Among these markets, a special position is occupied by the GCC region, whose nationals are increasingly heading to Germany to benefit from the medical sector. For the first time, the mark of one million overnight stays by travellers from the Arabian Gulf region was outdone in 2011. Yet, during the first three months of 2012 a further increase of 15.5% was registered as compared to previous years, with 185.074 overnight stays by GCC travellers from January to March 2012 against the 160.237 overnight stays during the same trimester of 2011.
According to estimations, an expanding share of international patients is expected to visit Germany for health reasons in the coming years. Figures from the German Federal Statistical Office and the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences indicate that treatments were provided to over 77,000 inpatients from 178 countries in 2010, nearly 10% more than in the previous year. For the Euro Canada Consumer Index, the German healthcare system occupies second place in Europe and ranks among the most progressive and innovative healthcare systems in the world.
“Health is a tourism megatrend with one of the global fastest growth; its increase in value sales is expected to reach 5.5% yearly in the period from 2010 to 2015,” said Antje Roeding-Boudier, director of the marketing and sales office for the Gulf Countries at the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) in Dubai, the local affiliate of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) for the GCC countries.
In addition, after many successful events carried out across the GCC countries under the ‘Medical Travel’ theme year in 2011, the GNTO will organize new initiatives, directly engaging the travel industry in the region. Therefore, medical workshops featuring different activities centred on health-related travel will be held in Kuwait City, Doha and Abu Dhabi between September 30th and October 2nd, 2012.
