Development of Health Tourism in Croatia

On 10 January 2017, the AmCham Tourism Committee organized an open meeting on the topic “Development of Health Tourism in Croatia”, which gathered eminent representatives of the Croatian healthcare and tourism industry. The keynote speak was Dr. Stjepan Orešković, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine & Center for Bioethics Fellow at Harvard Medical School & Director of the WHO Collaborative Center for HIV Strategic Information.

Dr. Orešković gave an overview of the global health tourism industry and encouraged discussion on the current and future role of Croatia as a health tourism destination. The participants identified the key challenges facing the Croatian tourism industry including: inadequate legislation in relation to rules on flexible working practices and remuneration of health professionals, the need for better branding of Croatia as a health tourism destination, lack of direct air connections to relevant markets (e.g. USA) and insufficient government support.

The meeting provided a basis for further work of the Committee on the concrete solutions to be proposed by AmCham to the relevant institutions in Croatia with goal of capturing the growth potential offered by the global health tourism industry and thereby enriching the Croatian tourism offer.