DESTINATION

Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates and sits off the mainland on an island in the Persian Gulf. The economy of the UAE is the second largest in the Arab World, after Saudi Arabia, and mainly focuses on oil exports and commerce. Except for Dubai, which was helped by Abu Dhabi during its recent economic crisis, the entire destination still relies on the revenues that come from the oil industry, while trying to build a tourism hub that can help shift that pattern in the future. Tourism is now one of the main sources of revenue in the UAE; not only does it feature some of the world's most luxurious hotels, but there are also huge, hub-style airports with state-of-the-art facilities. Today, the UAE is the 31st largest economy by nominal GDP and is home to more than 9.4 million people. Similar to Dubai, its healthcare system is a mix of public and private, with the public system being more of a comprehensive system that cares for entire patient needs, in addition to all legal residents living in the capital city. The private sector keeps building state of the art facilities and caters to medical tourism.

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This only shows the potential this city has as an alternative for inbound international medical tourists looking for better options around the world. Abu Dhabi ranks 25th out of 41 destinations surveyed in the Medical Tourism Index. Despite the modest ranking, the city’s environment factor came in 22nd position, mainly because the cultural similarity factor is still a concern for potential medical tourists, even though the destination’s image and political environment do help balance it out. In a similar way, the Medical Tourism Index factor ranked 31st, more due to the cost of treatment factor being a main worry for potential inbound patients. Finally, the facility and service quality factor ranked above average and in 16th place, as the capital city is rewarded for its effort towards international accreditation and the expertise and qualifications of its medical staff. So in the end, the correct strategy should be focusing more on the cost side of the medical treatments as well as the cultural and language match, taking advantage of the expat community and the local work force’s western education in order to built a campaign that will increase the medical tourism business.

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