The award for one of the most promising health tourism destinations in Europe was presented to Croatia during the HTI conference in Rovinj.
Croatia and Greece have been declared the most promising destinations for health tourism in Europe. The award was presented during the 7th HTI world conference on medical tourism, which took place this week in Rovinj, announced the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), which is a partner of the conference, reports seebiz.eu on March 3, 2017.
While accepting the award on behalf of Croatia, director of the destination management department of the HTZ Main Office Slavija Jačan-Obratov pointed out that this was a great recognition for Croatia, because it had been recognized as a fast-growing destination for medical tourism, which proves that current activities of the entire tourism sector in this segment have been very effective.
The award is part of the award programme for best European destinations of medical tourism called “Medical Tourism Index”, which were presented during the conference. The award for the best destination was given to the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
During the conference, the Croatian National Tourist Board organized “Buy Croatia” workshops for medical tourism, which brought together about 30 international and 40 local companies which exchanged their experiences and discussed possibilities of strengthening mutual cooperation.
The HTI (Health Tourism Industry) conference is one of the leading health tourism conferences in Europe, and was started seven years ago by Zdeslav Radovčić, in partnership with the Croatian Chamber of Economy. This year, it brought together more than 300 participants from more than 40 countries who met at the Lone Hotel in Rovinj. The conference invited a number of local and international experts, top speakers, and panellists and guests with a focus on health tourism, including the luxury travel market.
Among the keynote speakers, along with Croatia’s Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, were the president of the US Medical Tourism Association Jonathan Edelheit, well-known Croatian scientist Dragan Primorac, president of the European Historic Thermal Towns Association Giuseppe Bellandi and CEO of Maistra hotel company Tomislav Popović.
