UNWTO and ETC gathered a group of international experts in Budapest to explore health and wellness tourism. Participants debated the proposed research to agree on a consistent terminology to define and describe health tourism, the latest trends shaping health tourism and how tourism destinations can tap into these opportunities.
The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC) gathered a group of international experts in Budapest, Hungary to better understand and explore the growing segment of wellness and medical tourism.
At the two day event were representatives of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Union (EU), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the European Spas Association, the Global Wellness Institute, Spaincares, the European Parliament, the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, the Mexican Council for the Medical Tourism Industry, the Lithuania Medical Tourism Cluster, the Lithuania State Department of Tourism, the Hungarian Hotel Association. Representatives from the health tourism sector from Hungary, Lithuania, Malaysia and Mexico attended, as did Danubius Hotels.
Discussions were based around ongoing ETC and UNWTO research on health tourism, a complex and not yet well-defined segment.
Laszlo Puczkó and Melanie Smith are preparing ‘Exploring Health Tourism’, commissioned by ETC and UNWTO. The report seeks to define health tourism and explain the motivations of health travellers, and will be published by the end of 2016.
Gusztáv Bienerth, Hungarian commissioner for tourism, highlighted the importance of health tourism in Hungary’s tourism sector, as well as the role of the country in the global market of health tourism
Márcio Favilla of UNWTO says, “The need to better understand an emerging, global, complex and rapidly changing phenomenon such as wellness and medical tourism has become essential to tap into its growth potential.” Eduardo Santander of ETC adds, “For ETC and UNWTO it is very important that we provide tourism authorities, managers and experts with a better understanding of the health tourism phenomenon and jointly cooperate to identify and provide a consistent terminology that lays the foundations for this promising sector.”
Participants debated the proposed research to agree on a consistent terminology to define and describe health tourism, the latest trends shaping health tourism and how tourism destinations can tap into these opportunities.
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