UNWTO and ETC endorse health tourism taxonomy Report led by RLA and IMTJ.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC) are well aware of the growth of health, wellness and medical tourism in recent years, describing it as ‘an emerging, global, complex and rapidly changing’ segment.  To provide clarity and consistency on definitions for health, wellness and medical tourism, UNWTO and ETC commissioned a study in the sector, which was prepared by Dr László Puczkó, RLA’s Director of Market Intelligence,  Melanie Smith (Budapest Metropolitan University), in collaboration with LaingBuisson, publishers of IMTJ.  The resulting report, ‘Exploring Health Tourism’ is the first attempt by a global tourism association to establish a coherent concept of health tourism and define the motivations behind travellers looking for health-related services.  It gives established and emerging health travel destinations a practical toolkit to help measure, diversify and increase revenue from this sector, and tackle the seasonality of general tourism.

Read the report’s Executive Summary and Overview of topics covered.

The full report can be purchased from UNWTO.