While conducting a survey of
various Bed and Breakfast units, it was found that most of the B&B units do
not have viable business. The reasons for the same are not far to seek if we
analyze the data available on the Incredible India website and Immigration
reports.
Mainly 3 types of tourists arrive
in India/Delhi:
1. Foreign
tourist who visit India for recreational purposes
2. General
category who come here for business/visiting friends or relatives etc.
3. Medical
tourists
 |
| Medical Tourists |
Out of 6.6 million FTA (2012
figures of Incredible India),
22.5% come for Business purposes.
27% come to visit
friends/relatives
27% come for leisure/holidays and
recreation.
 |
| Breakup of Foreign Tourist Arrival (FTA) in India |
US leads the highest proportion
of tourists visiting friends and relatives (46%) followed by Australasia (42%)
Interestingly, China (65%) and
Japan (60%) top the list of tourist arrival for business purpose.
Medical Tourist Arrival in India
The citizens of countries that
visit India for Medical purposes are mainly from Maldives (59% of 50,000
visitors), Nigeria (29% of 37000 visitors), Iraq (33% of 39000 visitors),
Afghanistan (16% of 95000 visitors), Oman (11% of 50000 visitors), UAE (8% of
41000 visitors).
 |
| Tourists from various countries for medical purpose |
According to Hindustan Times article ‘India among World’s
top 5 Medical tourism hotspots’ dated 26th July 2014, the Medical
tourism industry is set to grow to $ 6 billion by 2018 due to skilled doctors,
better infrastructure, facilities and low treatment cost.
“More tourists are coming to India because cost of treatment
here is much less compared to the US and the European countries. We are also
trying to integrate medical tourism with normal tourism,” said Parvez Dewan,
Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
 |
| India among World’s top 5 Medical tourism hotspots- Hindustan Times |
According to 2012 figures, Delhi
boasts of specialty hospitals with strong clinical care and medical institute,
which have state of the art technology and medical equipments. The city
receives approximately 25,200 numbers of foreign patients coming to the city. The patients from Mauritius,
Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Myanmar are mostly seeking specialties
in Cosmetic Surgery & Dental, Bariatric Surgery (Gastric Banding), Joint
Replacements & Spine, Cardiology, Cancer, IVF, Multi-Organ Transplants
visited the hospital for low cost surgeries.
Heart Surgery in US cost USD
60,000 where as in India its cost in $ 6,500. Bone Marrow Transplant in US
costs 250,000 (US $) and in India it is $ 35,000, Liver Transplant in US costs
300,000 (US $) and in India it costs
$ 55,000, Joint Replacements in US cost 50,000 (US $) and in India it
costs $ 8,000 and Cosmetic Surgery in US costs 20,000 (US $) and in India it
costs $ 2,000.
 |
| Contrast of Medical treatment in India vis-a-vis USA |
In the past, the experts of
Apollo hospitals have urged the government to conceptualize and launch a
campaign on the lines of ‘Incredible India’, in order to Brand India as the top
quality health care destination for medical tourists. At present, medical
tourists from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tanzania face difficulty in obtaining
visa and safe and secure accommodation in India.
ObamaCare
 |
| ObamaCare |
As per report published in “The
Business Standard on 22.8.2013, the Indian Medical Tourism sector is also
eyeing a large chunk of big outbound medical tourism likely to emanate out of America
following the implementation of “Obamacare”. The official name for
"ObamaCare" is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
It is also commonly referred to as Obama care, health care reform, or the
Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Under USA medical insurance
provisions, two million US citizens are now likely to go abroad for cheaper
treatment as against only 85000 in last two years. The share of incoming US medial tourists to India is only
3%. This share is likely to
increase due to the fact that US citizen will be driven mainly by cost factors
of ten fold or more cost saving as per article uploaded on website by Harvard
Law School. If India is able to
provide such treatment of high quality at affordable rates, the percentage of
incoming medical tourists from USA is likely to be 5% i.e. an increase from
2550 (@3% of 85000) to 1 lakh (@ 5% of 2 million).
As per report of the
Business Standard on 22nd August 2013, SAARC countries account for
36%, Africa 26%, West Asia 26% the US & Europe contribute to 3 percent
foreign patients respectively out of total one million incoming foreign medical
tourists.
Opportunity for B&B Owners:
Delhi B&B owners,
particularly those having homes near hospitals like Apollo, Medanta, Medicity,
Global Health, Escorts, Fortis have excellent opportunity to grab this market
for accommodation. In fact good
number of existing B&B units are already taking advantage of it.
What the future of Medical Tourism holds for B&B industry:
The future of medical tourism will
undoubtedly flourish under the B&B scheme, provided the owners publicize
their properties on websites, take help of various on-line agencies and start
on line accommodation reservation.
In absence of specific
accessibility facilities available in most commercial accommodations or at
present in Bed & Breakfast establishments, a large number of disabled
persons and medical tourists are not able to enjoy stay in the city. Since number of such disabled tourists
coming to Delhi are certainly more than 2.5% i.e. 65000 of total foreign
tourist arrivals in Delhi in a year, any extra facility extended and publicized
either through word of mouth or through internet will make a good marketing and
promotional tool for B&B owners to promote their business in more efficient
manner.
 |
| Bed and Breakfast offers a relaxing environment |
Additionally, B&B
accommodation is able to provide a favorable place near the hospital providing
a cool and relaxing environment for rest and convalesce. The stay of these
guests on a visit to the hospital for treatment requires longer stay for rest
and convalesce, and for post-operative checkups, monitoring, healing etc. that
takes several weeks and requires a comfortable stay suitably home away from
home. These guests may prefer B&B accommodation because of above-mentioned
reasons. If accommodation is `accessible’ and medical tourists friendly, it
creates more market for B&B accommodation for such target people.
 |
| Bed and Breakfast is a cost effective option for specially-abled tourists |
In nutshell, the B&B stay
option for incoming disabled or medical tourist is cost effective by 30% than
regular hotels. Such niche
tourists come with at least an attendant and do not come for a short stay in
Delhi. As mentioned above, the Medical tourists in particular need longer stay
for the accompanying relatives.
These relatives need personal care and emotional support, which can only
be taken care of by owners’ family.
Since hotels have limitations in providing personal care and disabled
friendly facility, the B&B owners desirous to attract more business through
such niche market, can create these specialized facilities.
 |
| Marketing strategy is essential for Bed and Breakfast owners |
However, proper marketing strategy is
needed by owners to tap this market, which is beneficial to both stakeholders.
Caveats:
Government authorities should
keep a watch that no untoward incident should happen due to unscrupulous
service provider from amongst the medical tourism industry stakeholders due to
which a negative sentiment arises. This might lead to an adverse change of
perception of India as a medical tourism destination.
Thus, there is a need for medical
tourism industry to practice self regulation.
Source:
PhD thesis, “Role of bed and breakfast
scheme of Delhi in development of Tourism in Delhi” by Dr. G G Saxena
Gaur
Sunil., Saxena Susheel, “Report on First International Summit on Health &
Wellness Tourism”, 2013, Delhi Tourism & Transportation Development
Corporation (DTTDC), Tourism Section, May 2nd
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