Reported by HPMM Group according to MEHR NEWS  ;   Mohammad Jahangiri, head of International Healthcare Association, said on Tuesday that the “۵th Conference on Health Tourism in Islamic Countries” and the “۲nd Conference and Exhibition of Health Tourism for Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) countries” will be held in Iran next year.

Iran hosted all the previous rounds of the Conference on Health Tourism in Islamic Countries in four consecutive years from 2010-2013 in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Most delegates attending the event come from member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

The conference is mainly aimed at addressing the challenges, upper-level strategies and development plans for prioritizing health tourism among the Islamic countries.

The second edition of health tourism conference by ECO countries will be held in the northwestern city of Ardebil, after five years.

The first round was held in Iran’s northern city of Ramsar in 2014, where representatives of the health ministries as well ambassadors from 9 ECO member states, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) envoy, as well as the representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) attended the event.

Currently, many health tourists travel to Iran from Central Asian and Arab countries.

According to Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the country’s annual revenue from health tourism is between $400 million and $500 million, while the target is to reach $2.5 billion by 2025.

Around 400 Iranian hospitals are active in the field of health tourism, and the country has projected to attract between 500,000 and 600,000 medical tourists

Geographical proximity, hot and cold mineral springs in various parts of the country as well as low-cost and high-quality health services in the fields of fertility treatment, stem cell treatment and dialysis, as well as heart, cosmetic and eye surgeries, have created new opportunities in Iran’s health tourism.