Türkiye expects 30 pct upsurge in health tourism patients in 2023

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...