In the first quarter of 2010, the growth of tourist departures from Russia to Israel reached +71% (data by Russian Tourism Agency and Russian Statistics Agency). This figure is part of an amazing growth of travelers to Middle East countries (+59% in 7 months of 2009). The region is an absolute leader in the Russian travel and tourism industry, which is experiencing a stable growth in 2010.
Preliminary estimates in 2010 stand at 3.45 million foreign tourists to Israel, 14% higher than in 2008, when the previous record was set. The passenger flow to Israel grew 10% in 2010 and reached 2.3 million passengers. The total amount of visits from Russia reached 560,000, with Russia currently standing in the second place worldwide and constituting 15% of all foreign arrivals to Israel.
Residents of Ukraine and Russia are choosing foreign clinics for a number of reasons. This includes the continuing growth of medical costs in their homeland, and also concerns over low qualification of the doctors, which leads to uncertainty in the diagnoses and in the quality of the locally offered services.
Russians are traveling to Israel for operational and sanatorium treatment of various diseases, which vary from cardio-vascular diseases to oncology, dermatology, orthopedic, IVF, and others.
The 2nd Moscow Medical & Health Tourism Congress will be devoted to developing trends in the Russian consumer market with respect to traveling abroad for treatment. The congress will enjoy participation of prominent speakers from private hospitals, public authorities, and trade associations representing Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Eastern European countries, and the Middle East region.
The Second Moscow Medical & Health Tourism Congress (MHTC 2011) will be held on March 17-18, 2011 at Expocentre Fairgrounds, Moscow, Russia. The concurrent “Medical & Health Tourism Exhibition” will be held on March 16-19, 2011.
