Türkiye expects 30 pct upsurge in health tourism patients in 2023

ISTANBUL

Türkiye expects to receive over 1.8 million health tourists in 2023, with an increase of approximately 30 percent, the head of a tourism professional organization has said.

“We expect to receive over 1.8 million health tourists in 2023 with an increase of approximately 30 percent,” said Firuz Bağlıkaya, president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB). “Likewise, we anticipate an increase in health tourism revenue.”

Bağlıkaya noted that according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the number of visitors who came to Türkiye for health and medical reasons, including citizens living abroad, exceeded 1.4 million last year.

Stating that the upward trend continued this year, Bağlıkaya said, “In the first three months of 2023, the number of visitors coming to our country for health and medical reasons increased by 37.5 percent compared to the same period in 2022, reaching 474,114. We expect the growth of health tourism to continue in the coming period.”

She emphasized that Türkiye is one of the world’s most important destinations in the field of health tourism.

“Gynecology, internal medicine, ophthalmology, medical biochemistry, general surgery, dentistry, orthopedics and traumatology, infectious diseases and ENT are the most preferred clinical specialties by international patients coming for health tourism,” Bağlıkaya said.
“Apart from these, hair transplantation, aesthetic and beauty applications are also of great interest.”

Bağlıkaya added that according to the information from travel agencies working as authorized intermediary organizations in the field of health tourism, a significant portion of the guests visiting Türkiye for health purposes come for hair transplantation.

“The most important center for hair transplantation in terms of destination is Istanbul,” she said.

“Due to the increasing demand, Antalya and İzmir have also started to receive a large number of health tourists for hair transplantation. This is an extremely pleasing development. We expect the number of people coming for hair transplantation to increase by around 20 percent this year compared to 2022.”

Bağlıkaya said that Türkiye is growing in double digits in the field of health tourism.

“We expect to receive more than 1.8 million health tourists in 2023, with an increase of about 30 percent. We also expect an increase in health tourism revenues. The figures confirm our expectation of this increase. In the first quarter of this year, health tourism revenues increased by 10.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022, reaching $453.7 million. Therefore, we can say that the upward trend in health tourism revenues will continue,” she added.

Bağlıkaya noted that Türkiye, which has a very high potential in the field of health tourism, can continue its rise in this field with the promotion and marketing activities to be carried out.

“It is also very important to support the travel agencies, which play a very important role at this point,” she said.

“At the same time, the support of the Trade Ministry is also very important. The ministry also provides serious incentives to our agencies and health institutions for the development of health tourism, and the portal https://healinturkiye.gov.tr plays an important role in promoting our agencies and health institutions.”