InterCare will be hosting Italy’s first medical tourism exhibition. InterCare International Medical Tourism Exhibition, which will take place in Milan from the 25-27th May 2017.
This year, Italy will be holding its first medical tourism trade fair: the InterCare International Medical Tourism Exhibition, which will take place in Milan from the 25-27th May 2017. Italy is traditionally an exporter of patients, so the aim of the event will be to raise awareness of the benefits of inbound medical tourism.
The event will target doctors, clinics, medical spas, thermal facilities, HORECA professionals as well as patients, enabling supply to meet demand.
InterCare Milan IMTE is viewed as a crucial opportunity to increase Italy’s competitive edge on the global medical tourism scene, and reposition themselves to take advantage of the growth and economic profitability of the market.
The InterCare initiative has already attracted consensus and support from numerous high profile professional associations in Italy and the rest of Europe including the Italian Association of Private Hospitals, the European Union of Private Hospitals, Spaincares and the European Historic Thermal Towns Association.
Medical tourism – a rapidly growing market
The latest estimates indicate that 11-14 million patients around the world travel for health reasons annually, and in 2015 this flow is estimated to have generated over $70 billion, which was a 20% increase on 2014. And according to InterCare, these figures are set to continue to grow at a substantial rate, with the value of the global market expected to reach EUR 150 billion by 2018.
Italian medical tourism
Despite having a well established healthcare system, Italian outbound medical tourism began to boom in 2012, with an increase in local patients choosing to travel abroad for treatment to countries such as Croatia, Hungary and Romania, with dentistry, cosmetic surgery, infertility treatment and bariatric surgery as the most popular treatments.
In 2015, Bocconi University estimated that the country’s inbound medical tourism numbers were around just 5,000, with most patients coming from Russia, Switzerland, Albania and the Gulf.
The InterCare Milan International Medical Tourism Exhibition 2017 promises to provide stimulus and debate about the Italian medical tourism market. It will bring together Italy’s finest healthcare providers to discuss how the country can reposition itself as a medical tourism destination.
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