Report proposes incentives for Indian hospitals to promote health and wellness tourism

The Indian government should provide tax incentives to hospitals to promote India as a health and wellness tourism destination, says a report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Yes Bank. The report, ‘Health and Wellness Tourism – Advantage’, offers a 10-point agenda for boosting health and wellness tourism in India.

The Indian government should provide tax incentives to hospitals to promote India as a health and wellness tourism destination, says a report by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Yes Bank.

The report, ‘Health and Wellness Tourism – Advantage’, offers a 10-point agenda for boosting health and wellness tourism in India. It recommends encouraging medical tourism by offering tax-breaks and export incentives to participating hospitals. It says that the focus should be to market the country’s health and wellness product in a way that would attract the maximum number of tourists, especially from America and Europe. It suggests that the marketing of alternative forms of wellness packages (ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani), as follow up practices to surgery will lengthen the stay of the tourist in the country.

Another key recommendation is that there must be mandatory quality accreditations for Indian hospitals. It highlights the need to provide good quality accommodation, hospitals and post treatment recuperative centres. The study also suggests setting up a national organisation to provide information to foreign patients on Indian hospitals, and act as a marketing and sales agency. It also recommends setting up health care medi-cities on the lines of the Chettinad Health City in Tamil Nadu to further boost the sector.

Thomas Cook (India) Limited has a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM). Together they have designed a postgraduate diploma in management in international business, focusing on tourism. It will be a two-year full-time residential course offered at the IITTM campus in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh). The course module will include business travel, medical tourism, tourism service quality, intercultural management and research. The teaching methods will be case based learning. The first course will begin in June.