Research for TRAN Committee – Health tourism in the EU: a general investigation

Please note: Each EPRS Study is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.This study defines and explores health tourism and its three main components: medical, wellness, and spa tourism. Health tourism comprises around 5% of general tourism in the EU28 and contributes approximately 0.3% to the EU economy. Health tourism has a much higher domestic share than general tourism does. Increasing the share of health tourism may reduce tourism seasonality, improve sustainability and labour quality, and may help to reduce health costs through prevention measures and decreased pharmaceutical consumption.

ESO: Background information: Cross-border health care in the European Union. Mapping and analysing practices and policies (WHO: Regional Office for Europe, 2011) http://www.europeansources.info/record/cross-border-health-care-in-the-european-union-mapping-and-analysing-practices-and-policies/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: Study, June 2017: Research for TRAN Committee - Health tourism in the EU: a general investigation http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/601985/IPOL_STU(2017)601985_EN.pdf

---