London's Olympia Two exhibition hall is gearing up for the UK’s first ever health tourism show this weekend.
The event has been designed to promote foreign medical and health options. Exhibitors at the Health Tourism Show will showcase their dental, cosmetic, elective, IVF and sports treatments.
More than 100,000 trips for medical treatment (worth a total value of £375m) are expected to take place in 2009, rising to over 200,000 by 2010.
Organisers say that people looking for treatment abroad are often confused when choosing treatments and medical facilities due to a wide range of treatment options and "countries offering competitively priced surgery and dentistry" .
Keith Pollard, the founder of website Treatment Abroad, explained: "It is vital that medical tourists arm themselves with as much information as possible before proceeding with any treatment, which is what we aim to do with our website ."
"Visitors to our seminars and stand at the Health Tourism Show will have the opportunity to understand and ask about what travelling abroad for medical tourism really entails," he added.
The General Dental Council (GDC) recently issued guidance and advice to dental tourists in the form of a checklist.
Created in association with the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF), the checklist consists of a range of questions for dental tourists to ask before travelling abroad for treatment .
