PROSPECTS OF MEDICAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SERBIA

Abstract

Combination of medicine and tourism is a relatively new type of tourism that significantly contributes to economic development of certain countries. It represents a type of health tourism that is focused on providing medical assistance including surgeries, organ transplantation, aesthetic plastic surgery, complex dental surgeries and similar medical interventions. Over the last few years, medical tourism is undergoing a global expansion. Number of medical tourists is on the annual rise around the world and such trends are emerging in our country as well. However, despite great potential that Serbia has for medical tourism development, this type of tourism is still stagnating. Namely, potential users have rather limited information on what Serbia has to offer in terms of medical tourism. The objective of this paper is to point out possibilities of developing such type of tourism, due to Serbia’s potential in terms of medical and tourism services.