The Government of India will set up Medical Intelligence Tourism Board to facilitate inbound tourism and to generate new ideas for attracting more tourists including medical tourists. Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture, said that the first meeting of the Board would take place soon. Sharma mentioned that the Government is taking certain critical measures for attracting tourists into the country. Tourists from over 150 countries could avail of e-visa on arrival, which would speed up the flow of tourists into the country.

Smaller countries like Maldives and Sri Lanka are, on an average, attracting over 2 crore visitors yearly by appropriately packaging their tourism strengths. India, endowed with a huge land mass and geographical diversity, could attract more than these island countries could command. The Minister said that India has 7,000 kms of sea coast which very few countries could boast of, yet the flow of tourists across the sea coast is very low.

“It is time we set up facilities for yoga, medical treatment etc. Across the coast line to derive full advantage of the inherent strengths”, Sharma said. He also said that India can emerge as an important medical hub since some of the critical surgeries like knee replacement; dental surgery etc. Could be undertaken at one-sixth or one-eighth of the cost prevalent in developed countries