A total of 350 attendees (representing 42 countries) were welcomed and processed by the registration team at the 3rd World Health Tourism Congress that took place in Marbella, Spain, between 4 – 6 April, 2008. The event was under the Official Support and Patronage of the Costa del Sol Tourism Board.

The Organizers hosted 85 Services Procurement Organizations / Corporate Buyers (from 85 Organizations and 28 Countries).

Buyers came to consider the offerings of 71 Providers of Health Tourism Services, from Asia, the Middle East, South Africa, Europe and North & South America (24 Countries).

During the Congress, each Provider had up to 12 pre-scheduled, one-to-one meetings with selected Buyers (from a list provided in advance).

There were 19 presentations / workshops, presented by experts with a deep knowledge and understanding of Health Tourism. These were well attended.

The atmosphere in the large hall (where the one-to-one meetings were held) was one of relaxed but purposeful engagement.

Both the Buyers and Vendors later indicated that this intimate yet “open plan” arrangement had the desired effect.

The overall feeling and impression, amongst the attendees, was that the Congress had achieved its objective and gave promise of a larger and even more impressive and effective one next year in Manila.

Workshops / Presentations

19 “half hour” Workshops / Presentations were held in three auditoriums.
Inevitably, attendees faced the dilemma of which “overlapping” presentations to attend. The dilemma was compounded by the fact that the prospective attendees were at the same time either providers or buyers with a heavy appointment schedule.

Broadly, the presentations / workshops fell into one of three categories:

• Knowledge Provision
• Provider Promotion
• Country / Destination Promotion

The Congress Organizer is the events organizer “Aura International” Events Organizer, based in Dubai, U.A.E. In Marbella this year, the organizer added Spa to the event mix (a move that was welcomed by all).