TIRANA, June 10- In 2016 there was a boom in dental tourism from foreigners as Albania provided at least half the cost of their countries’ dental clinics. This practice still follows, however this year Albania is experiencing a rising trend in rhinoplasty (“plastic” surgeries) tourism, again due to significantly lower costs, but also because the sector offers service of foreign physicians from Italy, Turkey, or Greece.
Dr. Skerdilajd Faria who is director of the Italian aesthetic surgery clinic in Tirana “Keit” said that plastic interventions are the main asset Albania has had in recent years to attract foreigners. He added that health tourism is becoming more structured and organized in our country even though more work needs to be done. Clinics have begun attracting foreign clients in the form of a comprehensive package including intervention, post-surgery, hotel, food, etc., and surgical interventions are demanded by foreigners as surgeons are professionals, the clinics offer a good quality, and the prices are 50 percent cheaper than in Italy for example.
“Some of my friends, that were ambiguous whether to come or not to Albania, were persuaded considering that the same surgeon who would provide the service they sought in Rome would be in our clinic,” said dr. Faria.
Nevertheless, an attractive country for its health tourism does not include only price, but also cultural proximity, language, being a safe place to travel, and a professional and reliable medical staff. However, the first criteria noticed generally is the traveling distance. Yet, any tourist visiting our country is a potential client, especially those who chose to return. And Albania offers a multitude of options, as the marketing in foreign media are displaying our country as a safe place with extraordinary natural beauties with cheap service prices, including international flights. And beyond improved infrastructure, Tirana in itself is becoming an attractive modern city with widely spoken English. All these are some features that the clinics are using to attract foreign clients.
Cultural and distance proximity are some of the reasons why Italians have been more attracted to receiving such services from Albania. Nevertheless, Dr. Faria recalled an American couple that came last year to carry out the surgery of the nose remodeling. Prior to intervention they vacationed for a week in South Albania. The total cost of their travel, surgical intervention and holidays, costed 20 percent cheaper than the just the surgical intervention in America. And usually these medical services offered require minimal care which allows the customers to travel while on post-surgery.
Patients from developed countries will travel to a selected destination for certain treatments like dentistry, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and cosmetic surgery, and will choose cheaper vacancies with regard to the quality they will receive. Erjona Shahini who is administrator of Health Tourism Albania, an agency which mainly deals with packages and connecting clients to clinics, said that customers contact them either through social media or partner agencies. As there is an already established market in Italy for these services, Shahini said that this year they have expanded marketing in the United Kingdom, who are mostly attracted for IVF.
Shahini also added that the recent political disruption has slightly affected an uncertainty among tourists, however, according to data from the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) 219 foreigners have sought health tourism services during the first four months of the year, an increase by 210 percent compared to the same period last year.
Private clinics executives said that promotion of treatments for a particular country that already has a developed national health system and a full range of treatments may be the wrong choice. If there is no long-waiting list, people who can receive treatment at their place (especially if their healthcare pays for it). Promotion should not focus only on affordable prices, but attracting Balkan countries to bring potential clients to get services with foreign doctors absent in their respective countries. Clinics chiefs also added that we look at the current trends of Azerbaijan patients who go to Turkish hospitals for oncology and Bulgarian patients traveling to Greece, which is understandable because of the less developed health system in their country.
