Medical tourists are heading to Poland for cheaper and quicker surgical treatments, says a new research report from TechSci Research that predicts more than 15% growth in the country’s health tourism market particularly from the UK and Germany.
In the new research report “Poland Medical Tourism Market 2013,” TechSci Research anticipates strong growth for the Poland medical tourism market in the near future. The market has been driven by favourable factors including low waiting time, low cost treatment facilities and proximity to most of the European countries. In recent years hospitals and clinics in Poland have emerged as highly sought after destinations for medical procedures among international travellers. A large number of medical travellers from European countries, particularly UK and Germany have visited hospitals and clinics in Poland, more for dental surgery and cosmetic surgery than medical treatment.
According to TechSci Research, the entry of Poland in the European Union in 2004 and implementation of standard regulations and policy framework similar to other member countries has also provided the push to the medical tourism industry. The hospitals and clinics in Poland will continue to attract large numbers of medical tourists from European countries because of world class treatment facilities at low cost and the absence of any visa requirement for travel within European Union borders.
As well as dental and cosmetic surgery, spas and health resorts are attractive for foreign customers. Spa residential costs are at least 30-40% cheaper than in Germany. Damian Medical Centre in Warsaw offers cosmetic surgery, implants, eye operations and dental treatment at less than 50% of Western Europe prices.
The report says that the current number of medical tourists was 300,000 during 2009 compared to only a few thousand visitors a decade ago. Most medical travellers have been visiting Polish clinics and hospitals for cosmetic surgery and dental treatment.
In the opinion of TechSci Research, Poland needs to focus more on promotional and marketing activities in order to attract large numbers of international travelers to its healthcare facilities. The absence of any marketing and promotional effort could affect the emergence of Poland on the global medical tourism industry landscape and could result in an opportunity loss of revenue for Polish health clinics and hospitals.