Pros And Cons Of Health Tourism

902 Words4 Pages

Health tourism is a growing trend nowadays. It boasts about something that many other types of tourism would like to boast about. It has an annual growth of 20% in Spain and it is expected to generate more than 1000 million of euros by 2020.(Belinchón, 2017)

Spain and more specifically, the Balearic Islands, have been trying to become a successful health destination since many years ago.

In fact, many strategies have been carried out. One of the most important is
Plan Nacional Integral de Turismo (2012-2015). It is a public policy which believes that health tourism can improve the quality of tourism in Spain.
Regarding the Balearic Islands, one of the most successful collective agreements and partnerships is the Foro Innovación sobre asistencia sanitaria, turismo y salud, which gathers together different professionals of the tourism sector. Despite conducting several strategies, it seems the Balearic Islands are not attaining their objectives.

This work analyzes health tourism from different perspectives, but focusing on the cardiologic part. It does analyze as well the pros and cons of this type of tourism and suggests strategies that could be carried on to fully implement …show more content…

There are different varieties of tourism when it comes to health. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) health tourism falls into: tourism of health, “The process of going away from a country or state of residence in order to go for treatment abroad”. It includes both medical and wellness tourism; medical tourism: “surgical procedures and medical treatments: outpatient treatment procedures (dental, ophthalmologic, cosmetics…)”; wellness tourism: “activities tailored to rest: lifestyle changes, spa, spiritual retreats, retirement homes, personal assistance to elder people…)” (“Administración de empresas turísticas online: Turismo de salud, Comercialización de productos turísticos -,”