Dubai City is achieving major revenue exceeding 280 million dollars from curative tourism and experts are calling to increase plans aiming to attract more investments in order to diversity the economic resources.
Dubai – Participants in the National Convention in the city of Dubai confirmed that the Gulf cities, especially Emirates, are achieving major revenues from Curative tourism and what is known as reverse curative tourism and it has become an attraction to major investments in the field of healthcare.
During their participation in the National Convention for Curative tourism they said that the city of Dubai has achieved around 280 million dollars revenues from curative tourism last year, according to the statistics of the Health Committee in the Emirate.
The German Press Agency attributed to Dr. Leila AL MARZOUKI, Head of the curative tourism file in the Dubai Emirate that the number of arrivals from abroad for curative tourism in Dubai is currently estimated to be 300 thousand tourists annually. In addition, she stated that there are around 360 thousand persons from inside the country who favored continuing their treatment in the Emirate instead of travelling abroad, a phenomenon known under the name of reverse curative tourism. She confirmed that the expectation favor an increase in the numbers during the current year and a rise in the revenues for a percentage of 15%.
Experts and investors as well as specialized in the medical field invited the gulf countries to increase the plans aiming to attract investments in the health sector in order to stimulate the curative tourism for the diversification of economic resources.
The economy expert Mr. Moutaz Al Khayyat confirmed the urgent need to build more health facilities in the gulf countries as a result of the increase in the number of population and visitors in the region. He said that it requires the establishment of executed facilities to face this challenge and for the continuity to recharge the economy and curative tourism with permanent financial revenues.
He said that the investment in the health and curative tourism sector is by providing competitive packages majorly contributing in the support of the gulf economy.
He added that “more investments should be made and construction of new hospitals and medical facilities, because any developed economy needs the pillar of a strong and diverse health sector including the curative tourism”.
Dr. Rim OSMAN, executive manager of the Saudi German Hospital indicated that providing excellent health services has become a major attraction to patients from European and Asian and African countries as well as contributing in the reduction of percentage of citizens of gulf countries for treatment in the European and Asian countries.
She clarified that the Saudi German Hospital receives in Dubai patients from European Countries such as Italy, France and she confirmed that the “reputation of Curative Tourism in Dubai has had a major effect in attracting large numbers of tourist groups from Asia to receive a high level of medical services in the Emirate’s hospitals, which recharges the tourism sector with an important investment tourism resource”.
She added that “the curative tourism provides major financial resources for the hotels activity and major trading centers as well as infrastructure facilities of all kind such as transportation and flights services”.
She stated that a major development in the reverse curative tourism “where the Saudi German Hospital in Dubai, during the past two years, received a large number of Emirati patients who were being treated abroad, but they chose to continue their treatment inside the Emirates, especially in the fields of neurosurgery, heart and bone surgery”.
Dr. Mahmoud EL CHOGHRI, Marketing Director in the Sleiman Al Habib Hospital in Dubai, said that the concept of reverse curative tourism has witnessed a major expand, since a large number of Emirati nationals and from the Gulf countries preferred to continue their treatment in their countries instead of travelling abroad.
He clarified that the hospital receives patients from many countries from around the world to benefit from services in the vertebral column surgeries, hip replacement, cardio surgery, and epilepsy as well as obesity treatment.
He confirmed that “the level of medical service in major medical specializations has become distinctive since the attraction of major medical competencies and specialties, which led to the reinforcement of trust in the gulf health sector and majorly contributed in the prevalence of curative tourism” in the gulf countries.
In addition to African countries such as Nigeria in order to obtain treatment in delicate specializations.

This article was originally published on the following website : http://www.alarab.co.uk/article
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