While health tourism is developing rapidly all over the world, factors such as the quality of physicians and healthcare personnel, hospitals providing world-class service, and competitive price policy make Türkiye one of the first countries that come to mind when health tourism is mentioned.
Health tourism is gaining momentum both in our country and in the world. While many countries are competing with each other to get a share of this big cake, tourists who travel to receive health care take into consideration issues such as the quality of physicians and healthcare personnel, hospital features, transportation, accommodation and language problems. Many healthcare institutions operating in Türkiye are moving beyond being equipped to meet all the expectations of patients and are rapidly moving towards becoming global leaders.
Evaluating Türkiye’s health tourism sector, Fedakâr Günsili, Board Member of the Central Anatolia Regional Representation Board of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB) and Chairman of the International Health Tourism Committee, said, “Health tourism is a very valuable sector for our country in terms of both income and prestige. At this point today, Türkiye is positioned as one of the leading countries providing quality services in the world in the field of health tourism. But our goal is to be the best in the world. Statistics prove how fast we are developing in the field of health tourism. According to the report published by TÜRSAB in previous years, the number of people visiting our country to receive health services in 2008 was limited to 74 thousand. According to the data of International Health Services (USHAŞ), the number of tourists visiting our country to receive health services in the first 6 months of 2023 has increased to 746 thousand. “In the light of these data, we can easily say that in a 15-year period, Türkiye has become able to reach 10 times the number of tourists it hosts in 1 year in a 6-month period.”
“It is very important to manage growth correctly”
Fedakâr Günsili, Board Member of the Central Anatolia Regional Representation Board of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), said, “With the growth of the health tourism sector, we serve more patients every day. However, although growth is beautiful, its fruit is bitter if it is not managed correctly. Therefore, our industry stakeholders should also do their part in this regard. All stakeholders should prioritize the country’s image when providing services. Otherwise, Türkiye has been known for many years only for its image as a preferable country in terms of price. However, we also want to serve much higher class patients. We must stand out not only with our price but also with our quality. For this, we must run the right marketing campaigns.”
“Under-the-counter clinics harm the global image of the local market”
Fedakâr Günsili, Board Member of the Central Anatolia Regional Representation Board of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), said, “One of the biggest problems experienced by the sector is the deterioration of the built image due to under-the-counter clinics. Tourists, who are persuaded by social media advertisements, exaggerations and false promises, come to our country and receive ‘so-called’ services from under-the-counter clinics at very cheap prices. As a result, when a health problem occurs, this issue negatively changes the tourists’ perspective on our country. This causes the efforts of honest people who invest millions of dollars and try to build a positive image to be wasted.”
Fedakâr Günsili concluded his words as follows, “In the rapidly growing global health market, Türkiye stands out as one of the biggest players in the market. Our duty, and that of all industry stakeholders, is to increase our momentum without compromising our quality. Our physicians and healthcare staff already provide world-class services. I wholeheartedly believe that if we can achieve this in terms of promotion and marketing, we will achieve long-term success.”
