Travel Turkey Fair puts spotlight on thriving health tourism sector

The 10th Travel Turkey Tourism Fair and Congress, a leading tourism show held annually in İzmir, will be held from Dec. 8-11 with a special focus on health tourism.

Professionals and representatives from major institutions including state and university hospitals, health tourism agencies, thermal spa hotels and wellness centers will participate in the event, which will also include a training program designed for travel agencies to become licensed in health tourism.

Training courses will be offered by the educational head of the World Health Tourism Council Constantin Costantinidis on Dec. 8.

Health tourism has become a thriving sector in Turkey. Last year in 2015, 750,000 tourists traveled to Turkey for health-related services, with lasik eye surgery and hair transplants being the most common procedures tourists have undergone. Each year,roughly 100,000 people travel to Turkey to receive hair transplants; the majority of whom are from Arab countries.

In its last edition in 2015, Travel Turkey İzmir hosted 1,008 exhibitors from 31 countries and was attended by more than 34,000 tourism professionals from more than 60 countries.

A major gastronomy congress will also take place as a side event. Guests can enjoy traditional Turkish tastes as well as presentations on Turkish cultural and natural heritage.

Participating countries include Argentina, Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, France, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, India, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Jordan, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia and Spain. The travel show is a product of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), İzmir's fair organization agency İZFAŞ and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.