District Collector U.V. Jose has called all stakeholders to form a united front to present Kerala as a health tourism destination.
Opening ‘Kerala Health Tourism 2017’, a two-day international conference and exhibition on health tourism organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) here on Friday, Mr. Jose, with his experience in the tourism sector over the last 15 years, said the State had overlooked the role of mainstream medicine with respect to health tourism while focusing on Ayurveda and yoga.
“There is also a lack of connect between the government and the health industry, which has to be established to promote health tourism in the State,” he said, pointing out that a lot of hospitals accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) had come up in the State in the last 10 years, and Kerala had high potential in the sector.
Revenue
Convenor of CII Kerala Health Panel E.M. Najeeb said wellness tourism formed 30% of the total employment and revenue in the tourism sector of Kerala. He said the stakeholders should put pressure on the government to act as a facilitator and catalyst for the promotion of health tourism in the State.
The chief executive officer of Baby Memorial Hospital Soman Jacob said while natural beauty, performing arts and literacy rate were Kerala’s strengths in the tourism sector, its weaknesses such as environment pollution, bad roads and drainages, and water contamination needed to be addressed to promote the State as a health tourism destination. Ananthapuri Hospitals chairman A. Marthanda Pillai said the system of visa-on-arrival needed to be implemented to promote health tourism.
