ABSTRACT
India is emerging as an attractive health-care destination providing all three holistic wellness choices to international medical tourists such as: (i) alternative spiritual theraphy (yoga and spa), (ii) Ayurveda (herbal medicine) and (iii) complex diagnostic and medical surgeries (heart and hip). India was ranked third after Thailand and Singapore in 2005 (RNCOS, 2007) and in 2009 second only to Thailand as a global medical tourism destination (IMT, 2009). The eight key competitive driving factors and strengths that attract foreign medical tourists to India as a destination for medical treatment are: low surgical and medication cost, no waiting period, Joint Commission International JCI & International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) accredited quality of medical care, state of the art medical infrastructure facilities and technology, qualified and experienced medical professionals and nurses, affordable Indian pharmaceutical industry, availability of holistic alternative treatment and Ayurvedic medicine (CII and McKinsey, 2002; FICCI, 2008; JCI, 2010; Medhekar and Ali, 2012), and above all provision of personalised health care, English-speaking medical professionals and an attractive tourism destination with rich historical, spiritual and cultural heritage.
