HEALTH - MEDICAL AND WELLNESS TOURISM

Health tourism is a wider term for travels that focus on medical treatments and the use of healthcare services. Over the last couple of decades, there is a new type of holiday that is gradually developing in the country: health tourism in Greece. Due to the central geographical location and the high-quality medical services, many visitors come to Greece to combine effective medical treatments plus relaxation in a beautiful country. The first recorded instance of people travelling for medical treatment dates back thousands of years to when Greek pilgrims traveled from the eastern Mediterranean to a small area in the Saronic Gulf called Epidauria. This territory was the sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios. Greece has a great tradition in health and wellbeing practices. The medical approach in ancient Greece, preserved intact in folk tradition, sees human as an indivisible ‘whole’; the soul, mind and body interact and health is considered a state of balance and good relations between the emotional world and the person’s natural state. Greek medical tradition is based on mild forms of therapy. Healing spas, a balanced diet, herbal therapies, hypnotherapy, relaxing massage are just some of the ‘secrets’ that have survived from deep antiquity up to the present day. Greece has over 800 medicinal spas, with various properties and uses. The composition of the water varies and makes each spa unique. Some waters are considered ideal for drinking, like those from Arcadian springs, which clearly have an analgesic and therapeutic action on stomach disorders. Other springs are considered excellent for skin conditions and chronic diseases of the bones and muscles, such as the springs in Aidipsos in Evia, Loutraki in the Peloponnese and Eleftheres in Kavala, and Pozar in Macedonia. The facilities here at these thermal springs include excellent amenities and constant medical supervision by trained staff that treats each case individually. Sea water also has unparalleled therapeutic properties. Thalassotherapy centres throughout Greece, usually a part of luxury hotel facilities, offer a unique experience of wellbeing and relaxation.