Medical Tourism comes to MITT
The
Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition, which takes place in March 2010, will feature a section dedicated to medical tourism for the first time. Over the last 16 years, MITT, Russia’s leading travel and tourism exhibition, has grown and developed alongside the industry. The introduction of a medical tourism sector this year comes in response to exhibitor feedback and increased consumer demand for medical tourism.
A conference focussing on medical tourism will also take place alongside the exhibition, providing delegates with valuable information about the sector. The 1st Moscow Medical & Heath Tourism Congress will take place on 18 March, and draft topics include:
- Medical and health tourism as a profitable business
- The effect of the economic crisis on medical and health tourism
- Increasing the profitability of tourism companies through medical and health tourism
- The role of travel agents in medical tourism
- Increasing competitiveness. New way of attracting clients
- Insurance and supplementary services.
Event Director,
Maria Badakh, comments,
“Medical tourism is becoming increasingly popular. In fact, Deloitte Center forecasts growth of 35% annually for the sector from 2010. As a relatively new market, medical tourism in Russia offers excellent potential for growth. Although the sector has been represented at the show in previous years by individual companies, it has not had its own sector and individual promotion. We are looking forward to introducing medical tourism as a lucrative new revenue stream to Russia’s travel agents and tour operators.”
The sector will include spas, which are extremely popular amongst Russian travellers. According to Mr. Sergey Sinitcyn of the Federal Agency of Tourism,
“10-15% of Russians travel abroad for spa treatments annually”.
Tatiana Rokou
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009