NEW DELHI: Ministry of Ayush has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), Ministry
of Tourism, Government of India, to work together for the promotion of Medical
Value Travel in Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine.
Dr. Shashi Ranjan Vidyarthi, Director, Ministry of Ayush and Shri Piyush
Tiwari, Director (Commercial and Marketing), ITDC signed the MoU in the
presence of Shri Pramod Kumar Pathak, Special Secretary, MoA, and other senior
officials of Ministry of Ayush and ITDC.
According to the MoU, Ministry of Ayush will provide training to the officials
of ITDC to sensitize them about the Medical Value Travel in Ayurveda and other
traditional systems of medicine. 

It will identify tourist circuits, where there is immense
scope to promote Medical Value Travel in Ayurveda and other traditional systems
of medicine and provide all the technical knowhow from time to time to ITDC.
ITDC would, on suggestion of the Ministry of Ayush, include historical
heritage sites of Indian systems of medicine in tourist destinations under
“Knowledge Tourism and may develop films/literature useful to
tourists. 

It will explore establishing Ayurveda and Yoga centres in
the hotels run by ITDC and will organize sensitization workshops in
collaboration.
The implementation and progress of the MoU will be monitored by a Joint Working
Group (JWG), which would be co-chaired by representatives from MoA and ITDC.
The JWG will also identify the best practices adopted by Malaysia, Singapore
and Thailand etc. to promote themselves as a preferred destination for Medical
Value Travel.
In the recently concluded First Health Working Group meeting of G20 India
Presidency at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, G20 delegates had deliberated on opportunities
and challenges to promote MVT in India.
Medical Value Travel has seen significant growth in India in recent years.
According to the report ‘The Global Wellness Economy: Looking beyond COVID’ by
the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the Global Wellness economy is expected to
grow at 9.9% annually. Ayush based healthcare & Wellness economy is
estimated to grow to $70 billion by 2025.