Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB Board Member Hakan Ülken said in his speech here that as the public and private sectors in health tourism, they aim to generate an added value of 20 billion dollars by 2028 and to implement legislative regulations that will increase the competitiveness of the private sector.

In his speech, Ülken stated that they continue to work to increase Türkiye’s share of “international patients” from local and international hospitals to elderly and patient care centers, thermal tourism, eye and dental polyclinics and aesthetic surgery centers.

Speaking about the “HealthTürkiye” portal created by the International Health Services Joint Stock Company (USHAŞ) under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ülken stated that the portal in question is qualified to guide the sector in terms of listing companies providing health tourism services.

Ülken pointed to the importance of the cooperation of the public and private sectors in the development of health tourism and said:

“All of our hospitals and polyclinics serve on behalf of the public, and the bar for success has reached high levels. Our goal, as the public and private sectors, is to generate 20 billion dollars of added value by 2028 and to implement the legislative arrangements that will increase the competitiveness of the private sector without wasting time.”

Özgür Öztan, President of TOBB International Health Tourism Council, emphasized the importance of Türkiye in terms of health tourism.

Öztan stated that there have been smear campaigns about Türkiye and health services in the country in recent years, and that this situation can be prevented with the cooperation of the public and private sectors.

- “Türkiye has a mission to become the healing center of the world”

Behlül Ünver, General Manager of USHAŞ, stated that as a company, they are in a regulatory position in the sector and that they are working on legislation on health tourism and that they have come together with sector representatives.

Drawing attention to the informality in the sector, Ünver stated that they will prevent this with the “HealthTürkiye” platform and that they will support all hospitals, intermediary institutions and stakeholders who are members of the platform, regardless of public-private discrimination.

Pointing out that health tourism is a national issue, Ünver said, “We think that the global market for medical tourism is 100 billion dollars. There is a prediction that it will reach 127 billion dollars in 2028. Our 2024-2028 target is 20 billion dollars. Türkiye has a mission to become the healing center of the world with the ‘HealthTürkiye’ brand.”

Emphasizing that the global market share in thermal tourism is approximately 98 billion dollars and that Türkiye has a share of 250-300 million dollars, Ünver added that this area should be developed.