Health tourism spells great opportunity for Iceland
BY STEFAN HELGI VALSSON
“Geothermal water is Iceland‘s white gold,” according to
guest speaker Ms. Csilla Mezösi speaking at the annual meeting of the
Iceland Association for Health Tourism. Ms Mezösi is a consultant for
health tourism at the Hungarian Tourism Board and a board member of the
European Spa Association.
Iceland’s most famous commercial spa is the Blue Lagoon, which is
visited by more than 400,000 people annually. Myvatn Nature Baths can be
described as a newer but much smaller version of the same. Fontana
Steam Bath capitalizes on a natural steam vent next to Laugarvatn Lake
and is scheduled to open this summer.
Mezösi believes Iceland’s abundant supply of geothermal energy provides
the opportunity for the development of health tourism, which is still in
its infancy in Iceland. “Iceland has barely started tapping into this
genre of tourism,” she said, and pointed out the lack of information on
the number of tourists who actually visit Iceland with the purpose of
improving their health.
Mezösi complimented Reykjavik’s public geothermal swimming pools for
their quality and cleanliness and pointed out some opportunities, such
as: build hotels next to the pools for greater convenience for foreign
visitors; organize dance parties in the thermal pools in winter to
attract young tourists in the low season; and finally, get the Olympic
handball team medalists to promote health tourism in Iceland.
Health tourism incorporates both spa tourism, as well as medical
tourism. “However, a typical spa tourist focuses on different things
than a medical tourist. Spa tourism involves a holiday whereas medical
tourism involves cost-effective operations but more importantly
guarantee of a follow-up service after the treatment.”
Medical tourism in Hungary is big business. “German pensioners, as well
as British, Norwegian, and Danish, are most likely to enjoy the benefit
of high-quality dental treatment and various operations in Hungary for
less money than what they’d spend in their home country. The medical
tourism product in Hungary has evolved to such an extent that it is now
possible for foreign tourists to receive a door-to-door service
including accommodation and activities for the duration of their stay in
Hungary.”
Mezösi also mentioned that there are 4,000 foreign medical students
studying in Hungary. “Our goal is to involve these students in medical
and balneology research in order to learn more about the healing powers
of geothermal water, thus benefiting the medical tourism industry.”
The Hungarian government actively promotes medical tourism. It also
spends money on marketing medical tourism which Mezösi thinks is a good
idea. “Whatever money the government spends it gets back several times,”
Mezösi said.
Medical tourism has been made possible in Europe due to an EU law which
makes it possible for European Union (EU) patients to receive treatment
in any other member state such as Hungary and still get reimbursed by
their medical insurance,” Mezösi explained.
