Turkey’s Rising Star: Health Tourism

Health tourism, also known as medical tourism, is one of the rising trends in the last decade. Shortly, health tourism is a travel for wellness and health from one country to another for better treatment, affordable surgical fees, and so on. For the best example, Turkey is one of the first five developed countries in the world in health tourism. The best feature of Turkey is to provide the best treatment at affordable prices and offer a variety of medical treatments.

Firstly, health tourism dates back to Ancient Greek and Egypt times. Old people travel to thermal springs and the Nile River to find a cure. Today, this tradition continues under the name of health tourism. It divides into three parts as medical, thermal, and wellness (plastic surgery) tourism. It is really hard to find these three treatments in one place with cheap prices, but Turkey’s developed treatment services and well-educated doctors made it possible.

Why Turkey is So Popular in Health Tourism?

At this point, the question raises in minds; Why Turkey is so popular in health tourism? The answer is so easy; because Turkey presents high-quality treatment services at affordable prices. When other countries’ health services are examined, people face heavy taxes, high pricing, and long standby time. Moreover, people have often problems with the social security system.

For example, medical operations such as laser myopia, astigmatism, and hyperopia cost between € 4.000 and 8.000 in European countries, while in Turkey it is about € 600; IVF treatment in the US varies around $ 15.000-16.000, while in Turkey it costs $ 2.600.

On the other side, Turkey offers untroubled cure time and medical vacation at the same time. The variety of thermal spots and hot climate become also plus the values of medical tourists. To add, because of the geographic location, Turkey is very close to other countries. It makes transportation easy and cheap for medical tourists. Even Turkish Airlines provides discounted flight fares for them. So, there is no reason not to choose to be cured in Turkey.

Turkey Offers a Wide Variety of Treatment Services

As mentioned before, Turkey has a great variety of treatment services such as oral and maxillofacial diseases, drains and nerve surgery, eye diseases, orthopedics, and traumatology, internal medicine, ear, nose and throat, gynecology, general surgery, skin, and venereal diseases, child health, and disease. Turkey’s leading aesthetic services are hair transplants, plastic surgery, laser treatment, and dental.

If it is analyzed via cities, especially Afyon, Yalova, Nevşehir are preferred hot spots in thermal tourism. With increased demand, new 22 new thermal hotels are built in the last few years. Izmir, Istanbul, and Ankara are the ones in spas, wellness, and medical tourism. To continue, Antalya and Muğla are hot spots in elderly and disabled care. So, especially foreigners are willing to spend the rest of their lives in Turkey after retirement.

Top 8 Reasons to Choose Turkey for Healthcare

• High-quality treatment
• Affordable prices
• No heavy taxes
• Short standby time
• A wide variety of treatment services
• Medical vacation chance
• The best place for retirement
• Number of accredited health institutions
• Great location, discounted flight fares

The World Prefers Turkey for Health Tourism

The top countries that prefer Turkey for health tourism are Germany, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, and Macedonia.

Table 1. Visitors for health or medical reasons to Turkey (2012-2019)

Antalya and Istanbul Organizes Healthcare Congresses

Particularly in recent years, The Turkish Government supports Ankara Health Tourism Association (ASTUD) to organize the international healthcare congresses in Antalya and Istanbul for further development. According to ASTUD, Turkey aims at a twenty billion dollar share in the world health tourism market by 2023. Also, the number of medical tourists in the world exceeds ten million with a turnover of over $ 100 billion annually in the last ten years.

Medical Investment in Turkish Health Tourism

In these circumstances, Turkey does not attract only medical tourists, but also medical investors. In recent years, Turkey starts to give the message that she will develop more with her current success. So, especially foreign investors start to buy properties in Turkey to introduce specific treatment methods of their countries as alternative medicine. Especially far east countries’ massage cures or aromatherapies are on top nowadays. Patients have a chance also to experience foreign treatment methods in Turkey.

Get Better Soon in Turkey!

If you are looking for the best treatment at cheap prices, Turkey will be the right choice for you. There is no doubt that Turkey has a great variety of treatments from surgical ones to alternative medicine. Patients can find treatments for any disease in Turkey.

More Information About Life in Turkey

• Turkey’s 2023 Vision Project: Turkey wants to achieve by the year 2023, the 100-year anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The targets focus on the economy, tourism, energy, foreign policy, transport, and healthcare. Read more detailed information about the collective set of goals of Turkey for 2023.

- Cost of Living in Turkey: Turkey could be a cheap country to live in. However, there are some factors that should be considered before experienced in Turkey.

• The Best Cities to Visit in Turkey: Most of the cities to visit in Turkey are distinctively different, with an interesting story to tell stemming from the country’s vibrant historical timeline. Read more detailed information about the best cities to travel and live in Turkey.

• Exploring Northeast Turkey: Whether you join a guided tour or travel independently, a host of beautiful sights and attractions await you in Turkey. In this news, we wrote the best regions to see.