Official figures about the growth of Dubai medical tourism show that only 47% of medical tourists came from outside the UAE in 2015.
The International Medical Travel Journal has reported that only 296,491 medical tourists in Dubai came from outside of the UAE, of 630,833 medical tourists in total last year.
Hospitals in Dubai only record the citizenship of their patients, not the country they are working in – so the actual medical tourism figures – those tourists travelling to Dubai specifically for treatment, rather than international patients already based in Dubai - are still unknown.
The International Medical Travel Journal also noted that Dubai medical tourism figures have been underestimated, as figures only come from the 26 hospitals and clinics in Dubai that are responsible for medical tourism.
In the future, 2,730 health care facilities in Dubai will collect data to provide a more comprehensive picture of the actual number of medical tourists benefitting from the emirate’s medical facilities.
Total revenue from medical tourism, including expatriate workers, was US $400 million (AED 1,47 billion) last year.
The 2020 target for the medical tourism sector in Dubai is 500,000 arrivals.
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