Are Hospitals the Only Reason People Choose Türkiye for Healthcare?

Health tourism, tourist health services and Türkiye’s integrated country experience

When discussing health tourism, we often refer to our hospitals, physicians, technology and price advantage. These demonstrate a country’s healthcare capacity. Yet the decision to seek treatment in another country is not based solely on a comparison of clinical capabilities. Flight time, direct access, visas, language, cultural familiarity, the companion’s experience and overall trust in the destination all form part of the same decision.

One of Türkiye’s major advantages is its position at the centre of a vast geography. When assessing this advantage, however, we must not confuse two distinct concepts. A person who travels to Türkiye specifically to receive healthcare and a visitor who suddenly needs medical care while in the country for a holiday, business or another reason do not belong to the same patient group. Both must receive safe, high-quality care, but their reasons for being in Türkiye, the way their services are organised and what they signify for Türkiye’s health tourism performance are different.

In this article, I examine why Türkiye is chosen not only for its healthcare institutions but as a complete country experience, why the distinction between health tourism and tourist health services matters, and how that distinction should be reflected in statistics, planning and promotion.

What does a four-hour flight radius really mean?

Official sources state that Türkiye can reach approximately 1.3 to 1.5 billion people within a four-hour flight radius. The figure naturally varies by source and method of calculation. What matters is that much of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia can be reached within the same day. The Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye also reports that Turkish Airlines flies to 356 destinations in 132 countries. [1, 2]

In healthcare, distance is not measured only in kilometres. It matters whether the patient can fly directly, return for a pre-operative assessment or follow-up, whether a companion can arrange travel easily and whether either can return home quickly when necessary. Accessibility is a direct part of the treatment decision, particularly in dentistry, ophthalmology, IVF, aesthetic surgery, orthopaedics, rehabilitation and procedures requiring follow-up.

Even so, it would be wrong to treat the four-hour map as an automatic patient market. Not every reachable population constitutes a health tourism market. Income levels, health insurance, local treatment capacity, visa rules, language, political relations, payment habits and the people or institutions influencing patient decisions vary from one country to another. Geographic access is an important starting point; the real market emerges only when needs and relationships of trust within that population are analysed.

People do not choose Türkiye only for its hospitals

A patient arriving in Türkiye does not experience treatment in isolation. A spouse, child or another relative may travel with them. Treatment may last a few days or require weeks of rehabilitation. During that period, accommodation, transport, nutrition, communication, worship, daily needs and the companion’s time must also be managed.

Türkiye’s historical and cultural heritage, familiarity with different faiths and ways of life, developed tourism infrastructure, range of hotels, cuisine, climate and diversity of cities create significant value. Family and cultural ties with Turkish communities in the Balkans, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Europe also make trust easier for some patients. Many people may already have visited Türkiye as tourists, become familiar with the country through Turkish television and media, or heard positive experiences from people close to them.

None of these factors can replace clinical competence. However, when a patient is choosing between comparable treatment options, a destination that feels familiar, accessible and manageable for a companion may influence the decision. Limiting health tourism promotion to images of operating theatres, medical devices and physicians therefore tells only part of Türkiye’s real value.

Hospital care and the country experience cannot be separated

A patient’s impression of a country does not begin at the hospital door. The visa application, air ticket, airport reception, local transport, hotel, interpretation and hospital admission can build trust or increase anxiety before the patient even meets the physician. After treatment, access to a pharmacy, suitable nutrition, information for the companion, fitness to fly and the follow-up plan remain parts of the same experience.

For this reason, the relationship between healthcare providers and the tourism sector should not be reduced to reserving a hotel room or arranging a transfer vehicle. When airlines, airports, accommodation providers, travel and insurance companies, local authorities, diplomatic missions and healthcare institutions work in isolation, the patient is forced to bridge the gaps between them.

Türkiye’s experience in reception, accommodation and tourism services provides a strong foundation for health tourism. Yet healthcare requires greater sensitivity in timing, privacy, accessibility and clinical suitability. Transporting a patient after surgery is not an ordinary tourist transfer. The accommodation needs of a person undergoing rehabilitation are also different from those of a standard holiday package. Tourism expertise must be redesigned around the requirements of healthcare.

Health tourism and tourist health services are not the same

The Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health, dated 26 April 2025, clearly defines this distinction. Healthcare received by foreign nationals who come to Türkiye temporarily for health purposes, as well as by Turkish citizens residing abroad, falls within the scope of international health tourism. Tourist health services refer to healthcare provided for a sudden illness or emergency to foreign nationals who are temporarily in Türkiye for another reason. [3]

Patient group	Purpose of travel to Türkiye	Planning implications
Planned health tourist	Travels to Türkiye specifically to receive healthcare.	Market development, treatment planning, travel and follow-up are organised in advance.
Tourist health	Is in Türkiye for a holiday, business or another reason and develops a sudden illness or emergency.	Emergency access, insurance, regional capacity and multilingual guidance become priorities.
Citizen residing abroad	Travels temporarily to Türkiye to receive healthcare.	Diaspora links, social security, family ties and continuity of care should be assessed separately.

These groups may receive care in the same institution, but they are not in Türkiye for the same reason. A planned international patient has selected Türkiye, a physician or a treatment in advance. A person receiving tourist health services chose Türkiye for a holiday, business or another purpose and developed a healthcare need afterwards. This is not merely a matter of terminology. It directly affects promotional budgets, workforce planning, insurance relationships, service capacity and performance assessment.

Different stories within the same total

Combining every foreign national or patient living abroad into a single total may show service volume, but it cannot explain health tourism success on its own. If a tourist treated in an emergency department after an accident while holidaying in Antalya, a patient who travels to Istanbul for planned cancer treatment and a Turkish citizen living in Europe who returns for an annual check-up are counted in the same statistic, we cannot understand which markets choose Türkiye or why.

This distinction also matters for economic calculations. The treatment, accommodation, transport and companion expenditure of a planned health tourist can be organised in advance. Expenditure arising under tourist health services usually results from an unexpected need, emergency care or travel insurance. Both sources of revenue are valuable, but their origins and sustainability are not the same.

A sound data system should separately track at least the purpose of travel, planned or emergency admission, country of residence, citizenship, clinical specialty, payment source, companion status, repeat visits and post-treatment follow-up. The 2025 regulation requires healthcare facilities and intermediary organisations to enter complete, accurate and current data into the HealthTürkiye Portal. [3] The value of this infrastructure lies not merely in producing a record count, but in revealing the geographies, services and patient groups for which Türkiye is genuinely preferred.

Receiving treatment in Türkiye and choosing Türkiye for treatment

It matters when a foreign visitor receives healthcare in Türkiye. The more meaningful indicator for health tourism policy, however, is whether that person deliberately chooses Türkiye when a health need arises. That choice is shaped collectively by clinical outcomes, the physician’s reputation, waiting time, technology, price, access, culture and trust in the country.

Instead of looking only at the total number of patients, we should monitor the share arriving for planned care, which treatments bring patients from which countries, how they found Türkiye, how many return and how many recommend Türkiye to another patient. Tourist health data should be assessed separately in relation to emergency capacity, travel insurance, seasonal demand in tourism regions and patient safety.

Such a distinction does not diminish health tourism. On the contrary, it makes Türkiye’s real competitive strength visible. It also prevents us from overlooking the particular needs of emergency healthcare provided to foreign visitors in tourism regions.

Bringing Türkiye’s strengths together in one journey

Türkiye combines healthcare infrastructure and tourism expertise within the same country. Its extensive flight network, strong accommodation capacity, healthcare services across different cities, thermal resources, cultural diversity and skilled workforce form a valuable combination. Yet the mere coexistence of these assets does not automatically create an integrated health tourism model. Shared standards and clear responsibilities are needed if patients are to experience them as one seamless journey.

Destination promotion should explain not only the treatment package, but also where the patient will stay, what the companion can do, accessibility for people with disabilities, dietary and worship needs, the safe time to travel after treatment and whom the patient will contact after returning home. A physician’s assessment should determine which treatments can be combined with tourism activities and which require rest and medical supervision. Reducing health tourism to a holiday package may put patient safety at risk.

Türkiye’s value is greater than the simple sum of a good hospital and an attractive tourism destination. The right model brings healthcare, transport, accommodation, the companion experience and continuity after treatment together under the same understanding of quality.

What we measure tells us what to improve

In the period ahead, assessing health tourism performance will require indicators more informative than the total number of foreign patients. Planned health tourists and tourist health cases should be reported separately, with analysis by market, specialty, city, payment source and patient journey. Countries with strong flight connections but limited patient flows should be compared with those that choose Türkiye despite more limited access.

We can also monitor the length of stay of companions, repeat visits for treatment, returns for follow-up, complaint resolution times and the proportion of patients arriving through referrals, alongside the number of incoming patients. This would show more concretely how tourism infrastructure adds value to healthcare and how healthcare strengthens the national brand.

Türkiye can reach a vast geography. It has one of the world’s most extensive international flight networks, strong healthcare institutions and decades of tourism experience. The central challenge is to manage the difference between being reachable and being chosen.

Success in health tourism cannot be measured by placing every foreign patient in Türkiye under the same heading. Success means that when a healthcare need arises, people deliberately choose Türkiye, feel safe while here and can confidently describe their experience after returning home. Our hospitals are not the only reason Türkiye is chosen. But unless we manage the entire country experience in a way that adds value to healthcare, we will not make full use of our advantages.

Sources

[1] Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, Strategic Location. Türkiye’s access to a population of 1.3 billion within a four-hour flight radius and the Turkish Airlines network.

[2] Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, statement on Türkiye’s access to approximately 1.5 billion people in 67 countries within a four-hour flight radius.

[3] Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health, dated 26 April 2025 and numbered 32882; definitions of health tourism and tourist health, and registration obligations.