THE MEDICAL TOURISM AND ITS DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN GEORGIA
Abstract
The medical tourism is one of the fastest growing business industries in the world. In different countries, the quality, price, availability and methods of medical services are different. Georgia has great prospects for the development of medical tourism.
The medical tourism involves the combination of recreation and medical services both abroad and within one's own country. It is a relatively new, but rapidly developing and, at the same time, quite popular branch of tourism. Its growth rates are the highest among other segments of tourism. In many countries of the world, the development of this direction of tourism is taken to the level of state policy.
The medical tourism gave rise to a new, modern concept of health: when a patient cannot solve a health problem in his country, he chooses his desired country, doctor, clinic, where he will be offered the most modern treatment and diagnostic methods at an affordable price.
On the other hand, in the conditions of global economic competition, The medical tourism contributes to the faster development of medicine and may significantly change the face of national healthcare systems.
It should be noted that The medical tourism originates in the distant past. Traveling to another region for the purpose of improving health was not alien to humanity even centuries ago. For example, the first records of travel for treatment date back thousands of years; In particular, Greek pilgrims from the Eastern Mediterranean region came to Epidaurus, a small town of ancient Greece. Spa towns and sanatoriums are an early form of medical tourism. Already in the 18th century, European patients visited spa facilities and massaged their bodies with mineral water.
