“Zagreb – The Centre of Medical Excellence” – This is the new motto of the Zagreb Tourist Board, which has decided to more seriously dedicate its efforts towards the development of Zagreb health tourism capabilities, reports Večernji List on February 7, 2019.
Last year, it commissioned the Medical Tourism Association from the United States to draft a feasibility study for the development of health tourism in Zagreb and its surroundings. In recent days, the study was officially presented at the Health Spot Croatia conference, which was organised jointly with the Croatian National Tourist Board. They also released a new brochure and designed a special website promoting health tourism, which will this year also be presented at specialised fairs, conferences and events around the world, beginning next week in Tel Aviv, Israel.
"If we want to use all of its possibilities, health tourism needs to be more seriously strategically developed," says Martina Bienenfeld, the director of the Zagreb City Tourist Board, adding that Zagreb already has medical clinics that are equal in their quality level with many of the international ones. Most of them are privately-owned, and this fact is precisely one of the reasons where Nikica Gabrić, the owner of the Svjetlost Polyclinic, where many foreign patients come for their laser vision correction surgeries, sees a sort of an obstacle.
“Private clinics are not equal in their status with the state-owned institutions because they cannot withdraw money from the European Union funds, and therefore they need administrative and government support,” Gabrić said.
The area surrounding Zagreb is equally attractive for the development of medical tourism, says Bienenfeld. Just a half hour drive from the capital is Naftalan, the only European spa resort known for its therapeutic oil springs and thermo-mineral water.
The majority of health tourists to Zagreb come from Slovenia, Italy and Germany, and most often they arrive to see dentists, ophthalmologists and plastic surgeons, since the prices in Croatia are substantially lower than in their countries, while the quality of medical services is equal and sometimes even better.
More news on the development of medical and health tourism in Croatia can be found in the Travel section.
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Petra Balija).
