Health tourism, or medical tourism, is valuable enough that it can be considered an independent industry. Also, a large share of the tourism revenue of tourist countries relates to medical tourism. For example, Turkey is known as a tourist country with recreational attractions and extensive shopping centers, but the largest share of this country's tourism revenue relates to treatment. Health tourism is not even confined to treatment centers. Spas and mineral waters can also be among the attractions of medical tourism.
While the turnover of the tourism industry, one of the world's most profitable industries, is estimated at more than 1 trillion dollars, 104 billion dollars of that, that is, about one tenth, belongs to health tourism. Also, the market value of the health and medical industry in 2021 was about 808 billion dollars. The flourishing of this industry has a considerable effect on national branding and on increasing a country's respect in public opinion. Health tourism is a large, growing industry and a significant opportunity even for developing countries. Iran too, because of its considerable medical capabilities and diverse tourism capacities, has good potential for investment in this field. It is necessary to know this concept more precisely and to examine its difference from similar concepts, as well as Iran's place in the global health tourism industry.
What is health tourism or medical tourism
People who live in poor countries that lack medical facilities may, if they contract dangerous diseases, travel to more advanced countries. This is if they have the financial means necessary to make this trip. But there are also other trips that, although they are made with the intention of treatment, have many differences from the first type of trips. The origin of these trips is, as it happens, modern and advanced countries, and their destination is developing countries. In this type of trip the person leaves their homeland not because of financial means, but, as it happens, in order to save on cost.
These differences mean that we consider the first type of trips merely a necessary medical journey; but we count the second type of trips as medical tourism or therapeutic tourism. Health tourism or medical tourism happens when a person travels to another country not out of necessity but because of the existence of attractions for treatment.
The boom and development of the health tourism industry in the world
Medical tourism has a growing trend. The United States itself is one of the most important destinations for health tourism. From this country in 2007 about 750000 health tourists were departing. 10 years later this figure reached 1 million and 400 thousand people. The market value of this industry in 2016 reached more than 61 billion dollars, and in most forecasts in 2015 it reaches 182 billion dollars. After the coronavirus pandemic, this market's growth trend has a 10 percent slope relative to the end of the pandemic. Attraction of medical tourism and the number of health tourists went from 17 million people in 2021 to 44 million people in 2025.
Global health tourism destinations in 2020
The World Tourism Organization has set indicators for medical tourism. These indicators are called ( MTI ), which stands for Medical Tourism Index. The health tourism indicators are physicians, hospital reputation, destination reputation, and medical and treatment services and facilities.
On the basis of these indicators, 46 countries of the world have been listed as countries suitable for health tourism. In the latest update, Canada has been placed at the top of this list. The noteworthy point is that in this list two cities of the United Arab Emirates have been counted as two countries. Besides Canada, the top 10 countries for medical tourism in these indicators are Singapore, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, Dubai, Costa Rica, Occupied Palestine, Abu Dhabi and India.
Health tourism statistics in Iran
Iran stands in rank 46, that is, the last rank of medical tourism countries. Iran also holds last rank among the West Asian countries on this list. Even so, Iran has abundant capacity to attract tourists in this field. Moreover, presence on this list is despite pharmaceutical and medical sanctions. Also, the World Tourism Organization indicators are not the only component for knowing Iran's global place in the health tourism industry. Iran's standing in terms of medicine and pharmaceuticals is striking. Iran ranks first in the West Asia region in medical science production and is one of the first 5 countries in the world in biotechnology.
The most important health tourism city in Iran is first Tehran and then holy Mashhad. Our country in 2012 had 30.000 health tourists. In 2015 this figure reached 200.000 people. Iran was ultimately able to reach an annual average of 500.000 tourists as well. Although Iran ranks last in terms of the indicators, in reality it has been one of the world's 10 highest-earning countries from health tourism through 2018. This is while Canada is not even among the 25 highest-earning countries from medical tourism. The gap that the largest country in West Asia has with its neighbors in medical knowledge and facilities makes this country an attractive destination for health tourism in this region.
More than 80 percent of patients who travel to Iran from abroad are from Iraq and Afghanistan. A total of 220 hospitals in Iran host health tourism. Services such as plastic surgery, infertility treatment, and dentistry are inexpensive and attractive. In 2020, it was said that Iran has 600.000 health tourists annually. This figure in 1401 (2022/23) has reached one million people a year and has experienced 40 percent growth.
Attractions and types of health tourism
The attractions that draw health tourists can include faster appointments for treatment, the inexpensiveness of treatment, and differences in the level of services or side attractions. Among these factors, the advanced level of medical technologies is the most frequent motive among health tourists. Next is the quality of treatment services and care. Also, the speed of obtaining these services is a frequent motive of this segment of global tourism.
Of course, the definition of a health tourism package is multiple. If every foreigner who visits foreign treatment centers is to be considered a health tourist, the circle of medical tourism becomes very broad. Some countries even consider a tourist who becomes ill and visits one of that country's treatment centers a health tourist, without their original intention having been treatment. This multiplicity of definitions makes statistical work on the medical tourism industry very difficult. So much so that the existing statistics are also highly variable and contradictory.
In addition to the aforementioned components, price differences are also a very important factor in using health tourism rules. For example, a heart transplant operation, while it costs 30 to 35 thousand dollars in Germany, in its immediate neighbor, Austria, is only 15 thousand dollars. That is, with a short trip one can have the operation at the same quality but half the price. Also, a hip operation, while it costs the patient 12 thousand dollars in the United Kingdom, in Poland costs only about 5 thousand dollars. In addition, countries that have large public healthcare systems also have long appointment periods.
On the European continent, Italy has the highest rank in health tourism in terms of the indicators. Also, Turkey and Russia are two bottom-of-the-table European countries in this industry. The Medical Tourism Association has also considered three components—environment, the medical tourism industry, and the quality of facilities and services—for evaluating countries in terms of a health tourism permit. In what follows we introduce the leading countries in the medical tourism industry.
Health tourism in South Korea
Creating attractiveness through culture and art has boosted various arenas of tourism in South Korea. South Korea's efforts toward national branding and the development of tourism and components of soft power have been successful on various fronts. One of these fronts is health tourism. The most powerful motive for medical tourism is the higher quality of treatment services and technologies. South Korea is also considered an advanced country in this respect. At the same time it also has a lower price than many destinations in this industry. Through 2018 the number of medical tourists who had come to Korea exceeded 2 million people. The popularity of South Korea's health tourism attractions did not decline significantly even in the coronavirus period. While before the coronavirus people from 190 countries went to Korea for treatment, during the pandemic this country still had more than 117 thousand medical travelers. More than 26 percent of these travelers were Chinese.
Patients often go to Korea for treatment in internal medicine and then for beauty and skin. Interestingly, more than half of health tourists have also made use of South Korea's other tourism attractions and sightseeing places. Medical tourism travelers stay in Korea for an average of 41 days. Most of the health tourists who come to Korea are American.
Medical tourism in America
Canada, in terms of health tourism indicators, stands in first place among destinations for this type of tourism. But the country that has the highest revenue from this industry is America. Given that treatment costs in this country are not low at all, one can guess that the most important reason for its popularity in this respect is its reputation for medical capability. In 2022 most treatment and medical tourists have come to America from China. Also, American medical tourists have chosen Mexico more than other countries for medical travel.
Overall, most Americans go to Latin America for health tourism. But in 2020, 45 percent of medical tourists from North America went to Asia, 26 percent to Latin America, 2 percent to the Middle East, and 27 percent to another country in North America. In other words, none of them traveled to Europe. This shows that Latin America has made its market more attractive for North American tourists.
A 2019 survey shows that as a result of high treatment costs in America, 61 percent of this country's citizens have cited the expensiveness of treatment expenses as their motive for medical travel abroad. Also, 46 percent have preferred outside America in search of higher-quality treatment.
Medical tourism in the UAE
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the leaders of health tourism in West Asia. It appears that the UAE has specifically planned to attract medical tourism and, unlike many active countries in this field, is not seeking the natural attraction of medical tourism. It is said that this country has invested more than one billion dirhams in this field over the past 5 years.
The UAE does not possess indigenous medical knowledge. Treatment centers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi often have American and European technicians and physicians. This country has been able, with the help of enormous financial investment, to create hospitals and treatment centers that have European and American standards. In this case the UAE has hospitals with high standards, a fast appointment process, and desirable quality of services that have been placed alongside Dubai's tourism attractions. The UAE was ultimately able in 2021 to host more than 630 thousand health tourists.
The impact of coronavirus on health tourism in Iran and the world
Coronavirus turned treatment centers into the most dangerous spaces imaginable. This is a natural occurrence. Some sources, to describe the severity of the blow coronavirus dealt to health tourism, use the word dramatic. It is clear that such an event would make people put foreign travel, and to treatment centers at that, out of their minds.
The destructive impact of coronavirus on this industry in Iran is also well traceable. According to statistics of the Health Tourism Office of the Ministry of Health, through Dey (December–January) 1398 (2019/20) about 125 thousand health tourists visited Iran's treatment centers. Based on the same statistics it was forecast that during the coronavirus outbreak 250 thousand medical tourists would enter, each tourist generating between 2 and 3 thousand dollars in foreign exchange. Therefore an amount of about 625 million dollars in damage was inflicted on this industry.
Even so, coronavirus also had a small gift for health tourism, and that was vaccine tourism. Argentina, Poland, Singapore, and the UAE were the world's leading countries in vaccine tourism.
Final remarks
The need for treatment and achieving health is one of the most important concerns of all human beings. For this reason it connects various countries of the world with different characteristics. People from developed countries come to developing countries, and people from Asian countries go to Europe or America, and vice versa. Health tourism has arisen from a need. For this reason medical tourism, besides all its unique economic advantages, is considered a very important cultural capacity.
The medical tourism industry is one of the products of globalization. The ease of tourism and international travel plus the globalization of medical standards have provided the ground for the growth of medical tourism. The medical industry consists of various tools and technologies that a large part of the process of diagnosing and treating disease is borne by. The tools of this industry are found in many countries, which has helped the globalization of medicine.
Machine-translated from Persian by Namafar; the Persian original is authoritative. Read the original in Persian