A Major Health Tourism Market Requires Serious Investment

The New Paradigm of Health Tourism – Part 17

Behlül Ünver – President, World Health Tourism Platform

Global health tourism is growing. Definitions and methods vary, but international research organisations estimate the medical tourism market at approximately USD 34–38 billion in 2025 and forecast continued double-digit growth. Different estimates show that sector boundaries and measurement methods are not fully standardised.

Türkiye is an important participant. According to TÜİK, it reached approximately 1.5 million health tourists and USD 3 billion in healthcare export revenue in 2024. The figures and ambitions are substantial.

Yet we sometimes overlook a fundamental point:

A major market share requires a substantial organisation.

Patients do not arrive by themselves

Strong hospitals, skilled physicians, competitive prices, aviation links and tourism infrastructure make the sector attractive. It is tempting to assume patients will naturally come.

In practice, patients must learn about and trust the country, find the hospital and physician, understand treatment and price, decide to travel and often secure their family’s confidence. Their doctor, insurer, government or intermediary may also be involved.

This requires a serious operation. Expectations must be balanced with the budget, team and time devoted to achieving them.

Expectations and investment belong together

We sometimes see high targets paired with limited marketing budgets, small teams, unclear markets, no local partners or sales network, inadequate digital infrastructure, unprepared physician communication, undeveloped treatment packages and inconsistent prices. Months later, the question is: “Why did patients not come?”

We should ask how much we actually invested for the market share expected.

As expectations rise, organisation, workforce and investment must grow too.

Costs extend beyond advertising

Google advertising, social media, fairs and websites matter, but represent only the visible part.

Real costs include international teams, call centres, multilingual staff, local representatives, physician communication, digital marketing, CRM, intermediary relationships, insurance agreements, treatment packages, legal processes, secure records, interpretation, transfers, accommodation coordination, follow-up and sometimes complication management.

Health tourism is a business model.

Entering a country and acquiring patients are different

Institutions target Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan or Saudi Arabia, then send identical materials everywhere.

Decision-makers vary: individual patients, insurers, state funds, physicians, diaspora communities or local agencies.

Market entry requires understanding healthcare, payments, behaviour, competitors, prices, flights, regulation and trust relationships. This takes time and money.

Health tourism is a team sport

Physicians, nurses, coordinators, interpreters, finance, IT, legal staff, transfer teams, call centres, intermediaries and often a local contact all contribute.

Putting the entire department on one person’s shoulders while setting million-dollar targets is unrealistic.

Teams need a shared objective. If clinical information, sales promises, prices and representatives’ explanations conflict, problems begin before arrival.

Speed also requires investment

Patients may approach Türkiye, India, Germany, Spain, Thailand, South Korea and other destinations simultaneously. While one provider takes three days to review a file, another may respond within three hours.

Competition includes speed. File transfer, clinical opinion, pricing, responses and answers must be organised through designed processes.

Not every patient is profitable

Revenue alone cannot demonstrate healthy growth without acquisition costs.

We must know advertising, commission, transfer, interpretation and staffing costs, acquisition time, repeat visits, referrals and which treatment groups generate real economic contribution.

Otherwise, high numbers may produce little profit. Acquisition cost should therefore be a key indicator alongside patient volume.

Patience is part of investment

Trust, recognition, physician relationships, insurance agreements and government cooperation take time. Satisfied patients referring others build a brand over years.

A three-month campaign differs fundamentally from a five-year market strategy. The latter reflects a serious health tourism approach.

Türkiye’s opportunity remains substantial

Approximately USD 3 billion in 2024 healthcare exports is important, yet Türkiye’s infrastructure, workforce, tourism capacity and location suggest considerable room for growth. USHAŞ’s 2024 annual report expressed a USD 20 billion health tourism revenue target for 2028.

That transition requires new markets and agreements, public and private institutions, universities, intermediaries, insurers, digital infrastructure, airlines and, above all, professional teams.

Are we genuinely ready to invest what our desired share demands?

Targets and budgets, expectations and effort, revenue and organisation are interdependent. Discussing large figures is easy; building the system that delivers them is harder.

The decisive difference may be between those who see an opportunity and those who manage health tourism as a real business model.