India The Hot Spot for Ayurveda Medical Tourism

Nobody  knows  how  tourism  got  connected  with  Ayurveda. But   now  Kerala  has  become  a  place  for   health conscious   tourists. Almost  all  tourist operators  are  now  harping  on this idea. All  hotels  and resorts   offfer  better   Ayurvedic treatment   facilities  and  scores  of   Ayurvedic doctors   got  into  the  payrolls of  five star  hotels.

This  is  the  new  era  where  Ayurveda   wears  the colours  of  a tourist  attraction. Although traditional  experts  in   Ayurveda  which  is  termed  as the science  of  life , do  not  subscribe  to  the  idea  of terming  this  as a tourist  attraction   or  taming this  science  to  the  tunes  of  the  tourist,  it   has  happened. “ We get  a  lot  of  enquiries  about  the  Ayurveda  facilities  from  tourists   at  the  time  of  booking”, says  Peter  John ,  a  hotel  manager  from    Fort Kochi

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And  in  Countries  like  Sri Lanka  it  has  become  a  practice  to  name  hotels   after  Ayurveda..  Tourist  centres  are  simply  termed  as  Ayurvedic  centres. Like  what  they  do  in  Italy, where   grapes  are crushed to  your  body  with  claims  of  rejuvenating  properties,  the Srilankan tourist  resorts  give  you a bath in  flower  filled  water  claiming  several  remedies. India, once known the world over as a cultural, spiritual and heritage tourism centre, is now becoming increasingly popular as a health destination. “Travel is no longer what it used to be. Now, the world over, there is a shift to vegetarianism, alternative healing, yoga and healthy living. So we market India as a health destination,” says Radhika Ray, merchandising and product development manager at SITA World Travels. Besides its cultural package, SITA also offers a special Ayurveda package, which is immensely popular.

An editorial published in 1998 in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was the first to note the increasing popularity of alternative medicine. It reported a 47 per cent increase in US-based patients turning to alternate health practitioners. JAMA attributed this growing shift to grave public concern about escalating costs of conventional medicine and the adverse effects of allopathic medicine. The journal goes on to say that an increase in the incidence of chronic diseases has caused people to look for better quality of life. The new mantra is a lifestyle change based on a holistic approach to life.

Travel and tourism gurus in India were quick to capitalise on these global trends. As it is, tourism has never been this good in a decade and a half. Global recession is on the wane and India’s economy is growing at impressive rates. The benefits of doing business with and in India have resulted in thousands of jobs moving to Indian shores from the West. This brings in transit business travellers who visit India on business meetings and holidays. In 2002, 2.2 million foreigners visited India, and the Ministry of Tourism says that the figure for the year 2003 is up by 20 per cent.

Kerala, has marketed itself remarkably well as ‘God’s Own Country’ and the land of ayurvedic massages and treatment. This investment makes available cheap, long-term funds to help finance the tourism infrastructure. Kerala is today a popular destination in India for foreign tourists. To cater to this growing demand, a number of upmarket spas and health centres offering ayurvedic treatment have cropped up all over the country.

An editorial published in 1998 in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) was the first to note the increasing popularity of alternative medicine. It reported a 47 per cent increase in US-based patients turning to alternate health practitioners. JAMA attributed this growing shift to grave public concern about escalating costs of conventional medicine and the adverse effects of allopathic medicine. The journal goes on to say that an increase in the incidence of chronic diseases has caused people to look for better quality of life. The new mantra is a lifestyle change based on a holistic approach to life.

Travel and tourism gurus in India were quick to capitalise on these global trends. As it is, tourism has never been this good in a decade and a half. Global recession is on the wane and India’s economy is growing at impressive rates. The benefits of doing business with and in India have resulted in thousands of jobs moving to Indian shores from the West. This brings in transit business travellers who visit India on business meetings and holidays. In 2002, 2.2 million foreigners visited India, and the Ministry of Tourism says that the figure for the year 2003 is up by 20 per cent.

Kerala, has marketed itself remarkably well as ‘God’s Own Country’ and the land of ayurvedic massages and treatment. The Kerala government had an outlay of about Rs 742 million for the financial year 2003-04. This investment makes available cheap, long-term funds to help finance the tourism infrastructure. Kerala is today a popular destination in India for foreign tourists. To cater to this growing demand, a number of upmarket spas and health centres offering ayurvedic treatment have cropped up all over the country.

The  story  of  Maya Anderson  who  came  to  Kerala  with  the  hope  of  trying Ayurveda  is  different. Ayurveda  for  her  was  not  a  pasttime .After fighting a losing battle with chronic arthritis, retired botanist Maya , 71, journeyed from the US to Chittilanchery, a small village near Palghat. She booked in at the Narayana Ayurveda Chikitsalaya to undergo a 16-day treatment for painful swollen knees. “I was a near cripple. Some days, I was completely bed-ridden and would lose all hopes of ever leading a normal life,” she says. At the Chikitsalaya, Maya was given herbal oil massages coupled with complete rest and a boiled, minimal salt diet. She also drank kashayam, a herbal concoction , and took guggulu tablets. Maya’s doctors have told her to repeat the treatment for the next three years for complete cure. “I now have my life back. I can understand, care for and manage my condition. That is the key,” she says.

But  it  is  a  fact  that most centres do not offer authentic treatment. Most tourists go back from India thinking that a massage with herbal oil is ayurvedic treatment. The fact is that the massage is just a small part of it. An equally important component of the treatment is the diet and lifestyle of the patient and the herbal supplements prescribed. This can be provided only by a trained Ayurvedic physician, and such commercialisation and exploitation only harms our traditional science , says  experts.

In  the coming  years  this  will  be  the  main  threat  before  Kerala. To  weed out  unscientific  elements   and  to  monitor  the  services  given  in this  field  authorities  will  have  to  be  very  vigilant.

Joseph Mathew (Chief editor and founder - Global Ayurveda Magazine)