Reviews on the Shining Star of Turkish Tourism Sector: Healthcare Tourism

Abstract

To become a country with a high market share in the international health tourism market, it is necessary to compete with the other countries in the sector. In this competitive environment, the current position of Turkey in the health tourism sector has both weak and strong sides. Inthis respect, the reasons for the countries competing in the developing health tourism market to increase their investments in this field need to be reviewed. Health tourism is to travel from one's usual place of residence to somewhere else to receive therapeutic, preventive, health-promoting or rehabilitation-oriented health services. It is seen that some countries stand out in terms of having places to visit in relation to this type of tourism. Among the countries that stand out in the healthtourism sector are: India, Singapore, USA, South Korea, Turkey, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, Hungary, Greece, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and United Arab Emirates.Health tourism has many positive effects onthe economies of countries and regions. The income obtained from the tourists visiting the country to benefit from this type of tourism, this income advancing the economies of the country and the region, offering different social and cultural exchanges between countries and the exchange of skills, information and technology are some of these. The focus of this review is to cultivate the current situation of health tourism, which is rapidly developing all over the earth, in Turkey, to determine the necessary aspects and needs and to present tourism recommendations.In this framework, the objective of the analysis is to determine Turkey's current situation in health tourism based on data, evaluate the developments, and propose suggestions for the future studies and researches as a compilation. A portrait of Turkey’s medical tourism sector has been presented using the data by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health. Furthermore, in light of the developments across the world and in Turkey, suggestionshave been proposed regarding what steps Turkey should take in the future about health tourism.