Medical tourism in Egypt is vital to attract foreign currency، enhance revenues

Egypt tries to activate medical tourism in its resorts especially at the red sea as it is considered one of the richest countries in the world and to open new markets to promote this type of tourism so as to attract more income in foreign currency to assist its ailing economy at a time when the vital tourism sector in general is struggling to overcome the recession it suffered due to the Ukraine-Russian war since February 2022.

Egypt is preparing the resorts of the Red Sea such as Safaga that represents a land famous for natural healing due to the abundance of natural resources such as the suitable climate، mineral springs، sulfur water pools، mud and hot sands which are vital for medical tourism.
Egypt's medical tourism has begun in the 2017 ad campaign "Tour n’ Cure project"، a joint effort between the government and Prime Pharma، a multinational drug company with offices in Heliopolis.

Tourism and medical tourism in Egypt has suffered recession

Tourism and medical tourism in Egypt has suffered the recession because the Ukraine-Russian war since February 2022 as the two countries represented the highest percentage of tourist influx in Egypt.

Egypt is famous for medical tourism thanks to its natural resources such as the suitable climate، mineral springs، sulfur water pools، mud and hot sands that it is ranked fourth regionally and 26 in the world in the medical tourism index last year.

Safaga، one of the world's largest centers for psoriasis treatment

Dermatologist Hani Al-Nazir، the former head of the National Research Center in Egypt، stated that the city of Safaga، located on the Red Sea coast، more than 500 kilometers from Cairo، is one of the world's largest centers for psoriasis treatment as the Safaga water has a high degree of salinity، 30 percent more than that of the Mediterranean Sea، which helps in treating many incurable skin diseases.

Safaga Bay water in Egypt is suitable for medical tourism as it is so rich in unique minerals that compete with the Dead Sea due to the growth of coral reefs which requires highly saline water ranging from 32 to 42 parts per thousand making it in a state of continuous thawing throughout the year.

Safaga beaches attract European tourists seeking treatment

Safaga beaches in Egypt on the red sea attract European tourists seeking treatment for some skin diseases s it has moderate temperatures and warm water and the black sands rich in natural minerals that is useful for medical tourism.

Many tourists confirmed that، when comparing beaches in Israel، Jordan and Egypt، the concentration of minerals in Safaga beaches is very good for treating psoriasis and arthritis that they visit Safaga resorts several years in a row for medical tourism.

Medical tourism helped calm health problems

They explained that medical tourism helped calm their health problems by 80 percent، which is an amazing result by burying their bodies completely in the sand except for their heads and their doctors advised them to treat psoriasis in Egypt's Safaga resorts but they felt a noticeable improvement after receiving 15 sessions in a month of sleeping on the black sand and sitting in tanks filled with concentrated saline water.

Egypt aims to double its revenues from tourism

Egypt aims to double its revenues from tourism to reach $30 billion annually during the coming period so medical tourism is important as it is rich in other therapeutic centers، besides Safaga، such as the Bahariya، Kharga and Siwa oases، which are surrounded by mountains and hundreds of mineral and sulfur springs that cure rheumatism، skin diseases and gastritis.

The medical tourism comes at the top of Egypt's concerns and priorities at the present time، as the government is preparing an integrated strategy to enhance it and provide the best medical treatment by attracting more investments as among the 1356 sulfur springs in Egypt، only a few are functioning in an appropriate way so that there is a need to build small hotels، changing rooms and gas stations in addition to other important services near these medical sites to encourage tourist ou visit Egypt for healing.

It is important to benefit from medical tourism as the tourism sector in Egypt generated only $7.3 billion in revenues during the first half of the current fiscal year، comparing to the highest tourism revenues in its history during the year 2019، exceeding $13.03 billion، and 13.1 million tourists visited it during this year.