What are the Types of Health Tourism?
Medical Tourism
Medical tourism includes medical treatments that significantly affect the life of the person, and even threaten his life. For example, every year many people visit the famous MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, USA. The main motivation here is not costs and tourism. People visit one of the centers considered to be the best in this field for the treatment of a life-threatening disease.
Especially developed countries with pioneering studies in the field of medicine and the latest technology host health tourists through this type of health tourism. However, countries such as Taiwan and South Korea also operate in this field with high quality health technologies.
Dental Tourism
As the name suggests, dental tourism is a type of health tourism that includes dental treatments. Two main factors determine the quality of treatment in dental treatments. The first is the quality of the laboratory that produces the materials and the quality of the international manufacturers who provide the raw material. The second is the knowledge, skills and experience of the treating physician and his assistants.
The part that affects the cost part in dental tourism is the wages that laboratories, doctors and health personnel will receive from their work. Because the international manufacturers who provide the raw form of the material offer the materials to the countries at approximately the same cost. Therefore, developing countries, which have given importance to health education, come to the fore in dental tourism. For example, Turkey is among the prominent countries in the world in dental tourism with its experienced dentists and superior health technologies.
Wellness Tourism
Wellness tourism includes methods that support healthy life, improve life, and relax the person physically and mentally. At the same time, methods that accelerate and complement recovery after some treatments are also within the scope of Wellness tourism. In this context, the scope of wellness tourism is very, very broad. For example, a person who went to Tibet and changed and improved the order of his life thanks to various ancient teachings also did wellness tourism. In addition, visits to healing waters are also included in this type of health tourism.
Since the scope of wellness tourism is very wide, we can say that it is done in many countries. For example, luxury wellness centers in Germany and the USA host many guests from abroad. At the same time, countries in Southeast Asia such as India, Tibet, and Thailand, which offer the opportunity to experience many ancient teachings, are also in high demand.
SPA Tourism
SPA tourism and wellness tourism have similar features. However, SPA tourism is usually done in SPA centers and only includes some spiritual and physically relaxing practices. For example, mud baths and various massages provide physical and mental relaxation. Another advantage of SPA tourism is that it can be easily combined with a hotel holiday.
Alternative Health Tourism
Alternative health tourism covers the application of a number of methods based on old teachings for the purpose of treatment. The number of diseases it targets is very large. For example, the methods called Ayurverda in India cause people from many countries of the world to visit India every year.
Complementary Health Tourism
Complementary health tourism is a preferred type of health tourism in order to alleviate the side effects and post-treatment complications of surgery and other treatments. Although it shows similarities with wellness tourism in terms of application, the target audience of complementary health tourism is more limited.
Advanced Age and Disabled Tourism
As the name suggests, the main focus of this type of health tourism is elderly people who want to receive care and people with disabilities. Long-term care for these people in patient care centers and rehabilitation centers is done by certified personnel. A large part of Turkey's health tourism revenues come from this type of health tourism.