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Turkey As The Ideal Destination For Health Tourism


The first things you think of when you hear about Turkey are probably the sea, coffee, Turkish airlines, and…medical tourism! The inbound medical tourists flow increased to 1M patients in 2019 — with a rise of 370% for the last 4 years. In 2019 pre-Covid ,000 patients came to Turkey for medical tourism, 352,000 of them alone was for cosmetic surgery. All of the operations have high success rates, thanks to knowledgeable doctors and professional teams. During demographic change, the topic of health and wellness is becoming more and more important.

When it comes to Turkish cuisine, you will have numerous options to taste such as kebabs, baklava, appetizers and many more in the famous restaurants in Istanbul.Choosing Turkey to have your surgery done will be the best experience you can ever have. While the highly skilled and experienced surgeons perform your operation, you can discover this incredible country. If you happen to visit the southern region of Turkey, you can combine your summer holiday and your surgery in a row.

In Turkey, a high number of hospitals have national and international accreditations and certificates. Prices ranging from 200 to 300 thousand dollars abroad, especially in categories such as organ transplantation, are made in our country with much more affordable and high quality. Health tourism, thermal health tourism and disabled and elderly tourism can be collected under the title of health tourism.


Turkey is accepted as a health tourism destination country, count among the states with one of the most number of JCI-accredited hospitals that are 49 in number currently. This research uses qualitative data from Internet narratives of medical tourists to Turkey. Narratives for analysis were obtained by using the Google search engine and using multiple search terms to obtain publicly posted blogs and discussion board postings of health travelers via purposeful sampling. Narratives were included if they were written in English, described travel to Turkey for health care, and were publicly accessible.

In particular, applications such as implant, zirconium, teeth whitening, aesthetic tooth filling, laminate veneer, and root canal treatment are frequently preferred by foreign clients in our country. Based on the 2016 database, there are more than 360 thousand dentists working in the EU countries. Greece, Bulgaria and Southern Cyprus are leader of Western European countries in the number of dentists per capita.


There is a need to address the cultural food preferences of health travelers and provide a more customized approach to menus and meals especially in the hospital setting. All travelers over 12, regardless of vaccination status, must show a negative virus test taken no more than two days before travel to enter England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Travelers who can show proof of full vaccination must book and pay for an additional P.C.R. test to be taken before the end of day two of their trip. Visitors must self-isolate in a residence of their choosing until obtaining a negative result. Fully vaccinated visitors may enter Oman, but before traveling they must register with the government and upload their vaccine certificate online. If the visitor does not also upload proof of a negative P.C.R. test taken within 72 or 96 hours of traveling, depending on the length of the flight, the visitor must take a test in the airport upon arrival.

Wintry weather combined with the pandemic to frustrate air travelers whose return flights home from the holidays were canceled or delayed in the first days of the new year. The United States, Britain, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mexico, Switzerland and Turkey remain on Israel’s red list, the health ministry said. Visitors from those countries require advance special permission from an Israeli committee to enter.

As shown in Table 2, the posters traveled to Turkey for a myriad of procedures. Dental work was the most frequent secondary procedure mentioned by the posters. “One of my patients recently spent 1,450 U.S. dollars in total while another spent 24,500 dollars,” Dundar said, noting an organ transplant costs between 20,000 to 60,000 dollars. The amount a health tourist spends in Turkey varies depending on the treatment. “Polina’s illness is a tough one,” her mother said, adding her treatment must be conducted under the control of an experienced medical team.


Promotions cover a wide range of activity and channels including social and digital platforms, international tourism fairs, hosting influencers, special events, familiarisation trips for trade and media and extensive PR activity. This emphasises the breadth and range of product away from ‘sun and sea’ to include winter experiences, youth, golf, sailing, health and city tourism. Recently implemented marketing activity drew on the Country’s unique values by emphasising the rich cultural and artistic heritage that has existed in Turkey for millennia. This dual focus has been underpinned over the last two years by adopting a theme for each year with 2018 being declared as Year of Troy and 2019 as Year of Göbeklitepe.

One reason was that its backers based projections of customer numbers on a flawed study, according to a subsequent investigation by a government public-accounts committee. Fewer American patients came than expected partly because health insurers were not interested in sending people overseas. Most of the people around the world prefer to visit Turkey for accessing healthcare services available in the country. In fact, Turkey is one of the most popular destinations that you can fin around the world for medical tourism. Hence, it is important to deep dive and analyze the reasons behind the above-mentioned fact. Then you can even decide whether you are traveling to Turkey for your treatments or not.


This approach to team formation guarantees patients that the treatment program takes into account every aspect of their case. Medical tourism could be extensively described as part of affordable private medical treatment in relation with the tourism niche for patients seeking surgical medical procedures as well as other types of particular treatment. More and more people, especially in Europe & England, are going abroad for medical treatment. Rising numbers of middle-class patients in Asian and African countries mean more people willing to spend if they cannot find what they need at home. And consumers are incentivised to travel by substantial price differences across borders for the same treatment. The average heart-valve replacement, for example, costs €30,000 ($35,000) in Germany but only €15,000 next door in Austria, with little or no drop in quality.

For instance, you can take a walk on Istiklal Street or you can discover the historical places in the Golden Horn region as well. The IVF treatment in the United States averagely costs 15,000 USD, while it costs 2,500 USD in Turkey. It is observed that a political commitment to universal health coverage together with a significant investment in health has seen Turkey’s health indicators catch up and surpass other middle income countries. The Next-Generation Radiotherapy techniques such as VERSA HD are the newest radiation therapy technology that has improved the standards in cancer treatment. In addition to the world-class hospitals, Turkey offers a variety of options for accommodation, ranging from budget-friendly guest houses or homestays to luxury resorts. Another positive side of medication and treatment in Turkey is the language.

Source:https://sharonvan28.wordpress.com/2022/01/04/turkey-as-the-ideal-destination-for-health-tourism/

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