According to data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Jordan, the number of visitors to Jordan for medical treatment and hospitalization has increased by 37% in the first eight months of this year compared to last year.
The data showed that 164,000 medical tourists, comprising various Arab and foreign nationalities, visited Jordan from the beginning of this year until the end of August. Overall, this is a significant increase over the 120,000 visitors recorded in the same period last year.
According to experts, medical tourism in Jordan has been increasing since the World Tourism Organization declared it a regional destination for medical tourism during the Medical and Hospital Tourism Conference held in the Dead Sea region last June. By the end of this year, more than 200,000 tourists are expected to visit Jordan for health treatment.
During the first eight months of this year, the percentage of visitors to Jordan for treatment and hospitalization amounted to 4% of the total number of visitors to the Kingdom, which was approximately 4.5 million.
The medical and health tourism industry contributes about 4% to Jordan's gross domestic product, with annual revenues of around one billion dinars. Medical tourism in Jordan contributes 14% to the country's GDP. The medical sector in Jordan employs 35,000 qualified medical professionals, with 95% of them being Jordanians. The industry includes approximately 127 public and private hospitals with a combined capacity of over 18,600 beds.
The number of visitors to the Kingdom has significantly increased to unprecedented levels compared to the same period in previous years. In the first eight months of 2023, about 4.5 million visitors were recorded, a 41.9% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
