Health Tourism in Turkey

Tourism constitutes an important part of the economy in Turkey and has achieved rapid growth in the last two decades. Turkey, which was visited by 46 million tourists in 2018, is the 6th in the world., The 4th of Europe. it has been ranked as the largest tourism destination.

There are many tourist places in Turkey that reflect the history and culture of the country, and besides, tourist activities are carried out on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. In recent years, the country has become popular in medical tourism.

Health tourism is the use of health and tourism opportunities by traveling to another country from their place of residence for the purpose of protecting, improving health or treating diseases. A person traveling for this purpose is called a health tourist. While in the past this term was usually realized as visits from underdeveloped countries to health centers in developed countries, today international patient circulation has started to change direction. Health tourists from developed countries also go to other countries for reasons of affordable prices and alternative treatment opportunities.

Types of Health Tourism

Medical Tourism: Medical tourism includes medical procedures or activities performed to improve the well-being of a health tourist. The state of improvement of the disease includes medical check-ups, health screenings, dental treatment, heart surgery, prosthesis installation, cancer treatment, neurosurgery, organ transplants and other procedures requiring qualified medical interventions.

Thermal Tourism: Applications that arise from the use of mineral waters with molten minerals in their contents, which are evaluated in health tourism, for purposes such as recreation, fitness and treatment, are evaluated in thermal tourism. Archaeological assessments have found that the Sumerians built the oldest known medical facilities around hot springs. These facilities can be seen as the first known health tourism structure.

Elderly Tourism (Geriatric Tourism): Recently, facilities established in health tourism related to the care of the elderly and trips made for this purpose have also begun to take their place in tourism activities as a new type of health tourism. 3. the activity, also called age tourism, is the practices carried out by certified personnel trained in clinical guesthouses, geriatric treatment centers, nursing homes for the purpose of care and rehabilitation of elderly tourists. The 10th edition of Turkey’s 2014-2018 Dec. It has been included in the program titled “Advanced Age Tourism” in the Development Plan.

Disabled Tourism: Special care for the disabled is provided in clinical hotels and rehabilitation centers.

Dental Tourism: It is a sub-branch of health tourism, which is mainly carried out for the purpose of having gums, implants and dental aesthetics.

Health Tourism in Turkey

the number of tourists arriving in 2019 was 662,087, tourism income was 1,065,105 dollars, the number of tourists arriving in 2020 was 388,150 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and tourism income was 548 million dollars. The most preferred clinical branches of international patients are; gynecology, internal medicine, ophthalmology, medical biochemistry, general surgery, dentistry, orthopedics and traumatology, infectious diseases and ear-nose-throat, respectively.

In order to operate in the field of health tourism in Turkey, all organizations must obtain a ‘Health Tourism Authorization Certificate’. As of December 2021, there are 1,473 health facilities and 308 intermediary organizations that have received this document. In addition, there are a total of 31 organizations that have a JCI (Joint Commission International) certificate. As of January 2022, Turkey is the 7th in the world in the total of JCI accredited organizations is in line.

USHAŞ was established in 2018 by the Ministry of Health in order to promote health tourism abroad in Turkey and to create policies and strategies related to international health services.

Besides, Turkey has become a worldwide center in aesthetics and especially hair October in recent years.

The Ministry of Commerce has determined that Turkey’s target income from health tourism in 2023 is $ 10 billion.

source: wikipedia