A boost for inbound medical travel to the UK?

The UK government recently launched a comprehensive, far sighted and indeed first ever Tourism Sector Deal for the UK. Ian Youngman has scoured the strategy papers, press releases and press coverage to see what plans there are to promote medical and health tourism to the UK.

Around the world, many governments and tourism organisations are at the very least attempting to use health tourism and medical tourism to boost or save their tourism industry.  As our IMTJ Editor in Chief, Keith Pollard, pointed out in his recent blog, many new entrants are trying, although perhaps not succeeding, to benefit from this particular ‘pot of gold’.

The UK already has a substantial, if mostly London based, domestic and international medical tourism business that is quietly successful.  This is despite a significant lack of government interest, and indeed many actions inadvertently seeking to derail the sector.

So, when the UK government launched a comprehensive, long term and indeed first ever Tourism Sector Deal for the UK, IMTJ was excited to see what, at long last, the government and tourism bodies were going to do to promote health and medical tourism domestically and internationally.  Goodness knows, we could all do with some good news and a more concerted effort to polish our image overseas.

Inbound UK tourism

In 2018, 38 million people visited the UK, contributing £23 billion to the local economy. By 2025 expected numbers will reach 47 million. Using a rolling 12 month basis until March 2019, 25 million travel to the UK from the European Union, 2.2 million from the rest of Europe, 4.7 million from North America, and 6 million from the rest of the world. There are no reliable official numbers for medical or health tourism .

The new Tourism Sector Deal sets out how the government and industry will work in partnership to boost productivity, develop the skills of the UK workforce and support destinations to enhance their visitor offer. Developed in partnership with the British Tourist Authority and the tourism industry, the deal forms part of the UK government’s modern industrial strategy supporting the continued growth of the tourism sector, ensuring the UK remains globally competitive as a leading tourist destination.

Tourism is a major contributor to the UK economy but is made up primarily of small businesses and cuts across many different policy areas. For the first time, the UK will have a national strategy that will help bring the sector together and collaborate on activities and initiatives. Ultimately, this aims to help visitors get to destinations quickly and easily, have a better experience in those destinations, improve productivity and efficiency and raise awareness about the employment opportunities the industry provides.

Revolutionary new data hub

The Sector Deal will revolutionise the way data is used by the sector, through the creation of new Tourism Data Hub. The independent hub will collate regularly updated data showing the latest trends and spends, allowing businesses to better target overseas visitors.  It will have input from the biggest travel companies, online travel agents, booking platforms, and banking and credit card companies. This will allow organisations to make the most of the big data revolution to understand visitor activity and product preferences.

The Sector Deal intends to support the creation of an additional 10,000 apprenticeships for people building their careers in the tourism and hospitality sectors. It also outlines the government’s ambitions for the UK to become the most accessible destination for disabled visitors, through improvement of disabled facilities and access to destinations across the country.

The UK government has committed to creating up to five new ‘Tourism Zones’ to support areas wishing to improve their tourism offer, particularly focusing on those areas looking to boost off-season visits. These zones will bring businesses and local organisations together to establish a coordinated strategy for growth in their local visitor economy. Small and medium enterprises in these areas will receive targeted digital skills training and be offered practical guidance in management and leadership through the ‘Be the Business’ programme to boost productivity.

More information about the bidding process for Tourism Zones will be released later in 2019, with a view to commencing projects in 2020. Tourism Zones will be developed and delivered by businesses local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships who will determine the specific priorities of an area.

The Sector Deal commits the UK to remaining as Europe’s leading hub for hotel investment for the next decade, with the industry committing to build over 130,000 additional bedrooms by 2025, with 75% of these outside of London.

There is much, much more in the strategy papers including new attractions, new ideas, case studies, training, employment, cruise tourism, studio tours, whisky centres, pubs, disability and even dementia support.

What about inbound health and medical travel?

Are you ready?

Searches through the acres of strategy papers, press releases and press coverage turn up nothing. Not a word, not a hint on what the government and tourism industry could do to promote the UK’s health tourism or medical tourism sectors.

Medical travel-related media headlines in the same week that the Sector Deal was announced are perhaps a better indication of the lack of interest in this sector:

• “Great Ormond Street Hospital is chasing £45 million in debt from foreign patients”
• “EU health tourism costs the NHS billions”
• “Doctors push to stop billing foreign NHS patients — calling it ‘racist'”
• “No payment holiday for health tourists”
• “NHS chief demands visas for visitors”

It’s a sad truth that in the currently toxic political climate in the UK, expecting English politicians to promote health and medical tourism any time soon is vain hope over expectation – a wasted opportunity.