2% of visitors to Bahrain seek healthcare

At present, medical tourism to Bahrain is minimal, but could become a lucrative niche segment for the tourism industry.

Bahrain welcomed 5.6 million visitors during the first half of 2017, an increase of 14% on 2016. Total 2016 numbers reached 12 million.

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) and the Information and eGovernment Authority implemented the ‘Tourism Expenditure Survey to Quantify Inbound and Outbound Tourism‘ for the year 2017.

Inbound tourism expenditure during the first half of 2017 amounted to $1.6 billion.

BTEA say that 57% of tourists visiting Bahrain stated ‘holiday and leisure’ as purpose of the visit, while 22% mentioned shopping followed by 9 % for friends and families, 7% for business, 2% for health care and 3% for other reasons.

Although the figures are rough and not clear whether they are for medical tourism or medical and health tourism, this gives Bahrain 120,000 healthcare tourists.

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Strategy ‘Ours Yours’ is based on four pillars in a step to further develop the tourism sector as a main contributor to the national economy. The strategy is based on four pillars ‘awareness, attraction, access and accommodation’; including the improvement in the overall accessibility to Bahrain, and improving the quality of services in the tourism and hospitality sectors.