Authors: Dimitrios Batakis, Kostas Zopounidis

Title: Review of the medical tourism literature: a descriptive analysis of recent trends in Greece.

Abstract

Introduction:It is widely acknowledged that one of the strongest drivers of the Greek economy is the tourism market.Given that tourism alone contributes about 18 per cent to Greece’s GDP annually, the diversification of the sector holds a lot of promise.

It is argued that medical tourism aims to mitigate the Greek economic crisis, benefiting from the comparative advantage of the country in providing low cost and high-quality health care services. More specifically, Greece is a popular destination for dialysis patients, as one can find dialysis centres across the country. Nevertheless, Greece has the opportunity to further grow the provision of other medical services such as IVF, eye surgery and plastic surgery. Hence, taking into account the importance of tourism, and specifically medical tourism, it is important to form a strategic plan to improve the medical tourism services in Greece.

Aim of the Paper: This paper will aim to analyse the current strategic efforts of key policy-makers in the medical tourism sector in Greece. The paper will present the strengths, opportunities and proposals for improvement of the sector’s coordination efforts.

Conclusions:The Ministry of Health in Greece should be taken in account the bellow health polices: Improve and ensure the quality and safety of healthcare services.It should be established transnational relationships / agreements on health tourism issues.It’s significant to advertise the levels of health services in Greece and the health levels of the Greek population in whole world.