Tourism will be biggest industry in state by 2025, says Vyas

As the first Gujarat Tourism Conclave held in Ahmedabad on Thursday tried hard to market the state as a destination for health tourists, a study released at the function highlighted local hospitals? inability to ?meet domestic demand?. Calling it a major challenge, the study observed that ?at times, foreign demand might be met at the cost of local demand?.

On the other hand, addressing the gathering, state Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas, who is also the Tourism Minister, predicted that tourism would be the biggest industry in the state in the next 15 years. ?Tourism will overshadow industry and agriculture put together by 2025,? he said, adding that the three main focus points of the state would be business tourism, leisure tourism and medical tourism.

The conclave was jointly organised by the state?s Tourism Department, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Yes Bank.

Furthering the growth of Gujarat Tourism with a special emphasis on health and wellness tourism ? put together by FICCI and Yes Bank, listed a number of opportunities and challenges the state would face.

The study said the health tourism industry in the country is estimated at 15 billion dollars presently and is likely to grow by 30 per cent annually, with the major demand existing in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America.