Switzerland to tap medical tourism

Swiss National Park

Swiss Tourism board is looking at the strong potential in medical tourism, and is eying UAE as a source market for medical tourism to Switzerland. “At the moment, it’s (medical tourism) less than 10 per cent of total visits to Switzerland. That’s why we see so much potential and opportunity to grow. We’re looking at the UAE because we already have substantial clientele who come to visit Switzerland,” said Martin Nydeggar, chief executive officer of Switzerland Tourism.

Switzerland welcomes around 70 million visitors a year. However, these numbers are not in the country for medical tourism. “We see high potential there. From the demand side, we get demand already from the UAE, from Gulf countries, and from Russia, in particular. On the supply side, we see that a lot of hotels are building and investing into that infrastructure,” he added.

In 2017, Switzerland saw an increase in tourism from the UAE, with overnights at 340,000, up 4 per cent.