Healthy prognosis for Turkish medical tourism

• Turkey building on strong sector
• Africa is a target for growth
• Goal of $20bn revenue

Turkey is looking to build on its already strong health tourism sector in the coming years, reaching out to new markets and offering a broader range of products to attract more foreign visitors seeking affordable treatment at a high standard. 

Last year, Turkish medical and wellness facilities provided treatment and care to 1.5 million overseas visitors, with the sector generating more than $3 billion in revenue. This year, the sector aims to boost client numbers to 2 million, with earnings forecast to grow to a healthy $5 billion. 

Turkey’s minister of health Kemal Memişoğlu announced in April that the medium-term objective was to round out the decade with revenue of $20 billion, as treatment options increase and more markets open up in the coming years. 

While expectations for growth in the sector are strong, increased competition and shifts in demand from key markets could pose challenges in the future, according to Emin Çakmak, the founding president of Turkey’s Health Tourism Development Association Council. 

“The risks that await us over the next 10 years are that some countries, especially western and developed countries, are rapidly making investments and reforms in healthcare and investing to improve health services,” he tells AGBI. 

This potential loss of part of the existing base is one of the driving forces behind the medical tourism sector looking to expand its reach beyond traditional markets, Çakmak says, with Africa clearly in Turkey’s sights. 

“We need to focus our promotional activities more on African countries over the next 10 years. With this understanding, our council has prepared a health services research report covering 51 African countries in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and is carrying out the necessary work based on this report.”

In order to achieve its targets and broaden its markets, Turkey is also looking to expand its health services product range, with the health ministry having identified a number of segments that have potential to attract medical tourists. 

Among these are specialised sports medicine programmes, traditional and alternative medicine services, geriatrics, disability care and wellness and thermal therapy. All are currently available in the domestic market, and to some extent to foreign visitors, but are to be prioritised as areas for investment and expansion. 

Public-private partnership

The ministry has also said the investment model for the sector will also be expanded, with plans to launch public-private partnership ventures. This scheme is already deployed in the domestic health market, with state-owned facilities used for private sector health services.

The plans to expand the sector’s reach come as Ankara moves to tighten up oversight of services providers.

In April, the ministry announced it had drafted new regulations for the medical tourism sector, requiring full accreditation from the ministry for all healthcare providers and physicians offering services to overseas clientele. 

All accredited service providers will be authorised to display the ministry’s HealthTürkiye logo on promotional sites and material, in order to provide proof of legitimacy. 

The regulations also require service providers to have compulsory complication and health insurance coverage, with all medical facilities serving the market having to complete the accreditation process by the end of 2025, in time for the push into Africa and beyond. 

• Winter resorts add to Turkey’s tourist hotspots
• Turkey hopes for funding surge from global institutions
• Wellness resort leads Egypt’s medical tourism push

The ministry’s agency, International Health Services Incorporated (USHAŞ), is also planning to promote and develop the medical tourism industry, opening liaison offices in a number of regions, including the Balkans, Western Europe and Central Asia.

Speaking at a health tourism conference in the western Turkish city of Edirne at the end of April, USHAŞ general manager Behlül Ünver said the Ministry of Health was working with the Ministry of Trade to grow the sector into new markets.

“The Ministry of Trade is putting in place incentive practices and conducting market research and country research,” he said. “This is because the Ministry of Health sees medical tourism as a services export.”