On Tuesday, the 7th Health Tourism Industry Conference (HTI) in Rovinj brought together around 500 participants from 60 countries.
At the HTI Conference, Croatian Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli said that Croatia is preparing to invest around 400 million euro for health tourism. Stressing that medical tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in the world, Minister Cappelli added that it is extremely important to encourage the development and connect stakeholders in this most promising sector of tourism, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on February 28, 2017.
“Medical tourism is one of the most prominent tourist products with a long tradition and history in Europe, and it has been recognized as a form of tourism which has an extremely positive demographic, social and cultural effects, and plays a major role in the development of continental tourism,” said Cappelli.
Cappelli believes that, given the aging population and the growing orientation towards healthy living and prevention, health tourism will be one of the main motives of travel in the future. Therefore, the development of health tourism requires innovation and quality, in which Croatia has great potential.
“Croatia is part of one of the most developed regions of health tourism in Europe, which must make better use of its infrastructure, and in particular promotion. It is a product that is unquestionably important for Croatia as a tourist destination and therefore health tourism in the Strategy for Croatian Tourism Development by 2020 is singled out as one of the ten key products for the development of Croatian tourism,” noted Cappelli, who concluded that the Croatian medical and travel system today has great competence and a highly qualified staff with favorable prices of services.
In addition, former Minister of Science Dr. Dragan Primorac said that Croatia has made a huge step forward in personalized medicine, which is evidenced by the numerous partnerships with renowned experts from abroad. Vice President of HGK Josip Zaher added that medical tourism is growing at an average rate of 15-20 percent annually.
The HTI Conference is known as the largest business event in Europe dedicated to health tourism. The event will be held in Rovinj at Hotel Lone from February 28 to March 2 under the organization of Director Zdeslav Radovčić, in partnership with the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and under the auspice of Croatian President Mrs. Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Health of Croatia. Official representatives are expected from the European Commission, European Parliament, European Travel Commission, Medical Tourism Association and many more.
