Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate ‘Kerala Health Tourism-2013’, an international conference and exhibition here, which begins on October 31.
The three-day event is being organised by the Confederation of Indian industry (CII) in association with the State Department of Tourism in a bid to highlight emerging trends, opportunities and challenges in health tourism sector of the state.
Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar, Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Excise K Babu, Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Finance Minister K M Mani, Union Minister K V Thomas and Union Minister Vayalar Ravi will be participating in the conference.
This is the third edition of KHT. With regard to the Indian health tourism arena, the conference will discuss the preparedness of Indian hospitals and will be a congregation of major hospitals, health insurance companies, policy makers, tourism promotion boards, hotels and resorts, health travel and tour operators and international institutions for promotion of health tourism.
The organisers said special attractions of KHT-2013 would include pavilions on dental and medical equipment. “The healthcare industry of India is a $50-billion industry and is growing at 15 per cent annually. The total healthcare spending in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17 per cent between 2007 and 2014. The contribution of healthcare to India’s GDP has risen in the last few years and this sector has the potential to become an engine of growth for the nation as it can create 70-80 million jobs in the next 10 years , adding 2 to 3 per cent annually to GDP,” said organisers of the event. “Kerala is evolving as one of the prime destinations in the country for health tourism, especially when it comes to traditional medicines like Ayurveda.