TIRANA, Feb. 18 – Albanian medical and dental tourism is gaining popularity abroad due to the country’s numerous clinics and relatively low-cost healthcare procedures, sending a number of Albanian tour providers to represent the country in Milan’s International Medical Tourism Exhibition.
Medical tourism is a form of elite travel, attracting middle and upper class citizens from Western countries that wish to receive medical, dental or surgical care with equal or greater attendance but more affordable prices than in their countries.
With already established medical tourism destinations such as Croatia and Romania, Albania is now also receiving considerable amounts of mainly Western Europe citizens seeking affordable prices, thus effectively competing with european markets.
Members of dental tour providers representing Albania in the exhibition said the country’s image has changed in recent years, and that they expect the government to continue promoting the country’s image for dental and general tourism to grow.
“This is the first participation in such an event. We embarked on this activity nine years ago and our aim was to bring foreign visitors by offering affordable prices for dental services and plastic surgeries,” Dritan Gremi, head of one of Albania’s leading dental tour companies, told local media during the exhibition, which saw the participation of companies from all over the world.
The last couple of years have established tourism as a main driver for Albania’s economy, with the Bank of Albania reporting a positive balance of € 156 million for last year’s first half.
Following this trend, popular tourism is also positively expected to keep growing. According to INSTAT data, 633 visitors entered the country during 2017 for medical tourism purposes.
Additional studies show the majority of these visitors is Italian citizens that come to Albania for medical treatment, making it a matter of concern for Italian competitors.
Second in the list of cheap medical treatments provided in Albania is aesthetic intervention, but the sector lacks proper control and quality checks, allegedly using dermal fillers not approved by the European Union.
Various online blogs testify to the popularity of this trend. A belgian blogger under the name Belgium or Bust reported about her Albanian dental tourism experience as early as 2013, saying that though Albania is still a developing country, its dental industry appears to be far more developed than other areas.
The blogger’s post concluded saying “twenty minutes and thirty dollars later I was back on the street with a now perfect tooth. The clinic was immaculate, the dentist and her assistant spoke English and I had survived my first Albanian dental experience,”
Albanian government has been eyeing tourism in hopes of it turning the country’s economic fortunes and creating more jobs for some years now, and investment in the sector has considerably increased.
