Over 1 Million Health Tourists Visit Iran in 2024

"Last year, we received 7.4 million tourists, of which 1.2 million were health tourists," Moslem Shojayee, Director General of the Foreign Tourism Marketing and Development Office at the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism said, adding, the health tourists received different treatment in Iran.

"Health, medical or therapeutic tourism is one of the key competitive advantages that the country's tourism has over others. Along with pilgrimage and historical-cultural tourism, this area is one of our three main products in which we can compete with many countries in the world," he went on to say. 

He noted that services such as hair transplants, cosmetic surgeries, transplants, and infertility treatment topped the other treatment that the foreign tourists received in Iranian medical centers.

"According to statistics from sources such as the Medical Tourism Association (MTA), the global medical tourism market is worth around $47 billion, with each health tourist spending an average of $2,500 to $3,000. The global market size is estimated to be between 18 and 20 million patients," Shojaei said, adding, "Iran's share is not bad despite the current conditions, although the situation was better before Covid-19 pandemic."

Iran’s health tourism organization, as a brand of Iran Health Tourism, was founded by International Health Services Institute (TAPESH) in 2006 and began its activity with the cooperation of the governmental, private, educational and university organizations and entities with a focus in exporting health services- starts its field studies from tens of congresses and conferences as well as dispatching special party to surrounding countries to explore the reason in failure of and obstacles in formation and expansion of tourism industry in popular concept and  health tourism in special meaning of it and finally giving a positive outlook on potency of Iran by providing executive solutions.

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