Supreme Commission for Tourism leads Saudi Arabia's participation in First International Health Tourism and Holidays Exhibition in Bahrain

The event takes place from 30 September - 3 October, 2003.

According to HRH Prince Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's participation under the SCT umbrella is part of SCT's vision to further develop niche tourism markets within Saudi Arabia's 20-year strategic tourism industry development plans.

"Saudi Arabia has achieved international leadership in various medical fields and has gained international status as a medical and health reference in the treatment of certain conditions such as heart and liver disease and the separation of conjoined twins," said Prince Abdul Aziz. "As such, Saudi Arabia attracts several thousand visitors annually who come to the Kingdom to receive comprehensive state-of-the-art medical treatment."

The medical providers participating at the event offer incomparable specialities in all areas of healthcare and include King Faisal Specialist Hospital and R.C, King Abdul Aziz Medical City, Mouwasat Hospital, Dr Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital, Dallah Hospital, Riyadh-Al-Kharj Hospital, Specialised Medical Centre Hospital, Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City and the Ministry of Health.

The Saudi delegatation also includes hotels, travel agencies and tour operators in true demonstration of SCT's commitment to the development of public and private sector partnerships, which help to boost tourism income and the national economy. These participating delegates include Al-Mutlaq Hotel, Menhal Travel & Tourism, National Company for Tourism and Sunset Beach.

The Saudi Arabian presence showcases the various services provided by tour and travel agencies in the areas of family tourism, health tourism and specialised hospitals; clinics and hotels that arrange and provide accommodation together with medical treatment facilities; specialist sanatoriums for mental and physical relaxation; health and medical organisations; transportation facilities to serve health tourists and specialist travel agencies that provide holiday planning services.

Also being highlighted are interesting tourist destinations, methods of transportation, exhibition and conference organisers, local and overseas tourist groups, adventure tourism, and technology for tourism, sports and holiday tourism operators and financial companies and institutions, such as banks to demonstrate appropriate methods of carrying money, such as in the form of travellers cheques and credit cards.

In 2000 alone Gulf nationals spent around US$27 billion on health tourism in various countries of the world. SCT is seeking to utilise advanced medical human, technological and scientific resources to offer an excellent tourist product.

"We see this event as a beneficial platform to highlight the Saudi Arabian health and medical tourism product to the regional and international community, and a key element is demonstrating the elements of tourism attraction supporting the medical and health tourism industry, as well as promoting co-operation and integration between participating companies," said Prince Abdul Aziz.

"The participation of the concerned organisations with health and medical services in the government and private sectors under SCT's umbrella underscores the importance of health tourism as an important element of the global tourism market."