A private non-profit organization, the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) organized the first virtual Health Travel International Conference, which took place on May 4th and 5th. The conference was held under the auspices of the Greek Ministries of Health and Tourism and in partnership with the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels.
Medical tourism, thermal/spa tourism and wellness tourism were the main thematic areas of the two-day conference, which was attended by more than 450 Greek and foreign participants from 33 countries around the world. The president of the Cluster, Assoc. Prof. Vladimir Mozetič, MD, PhD., MHA. responded to the invitation and participated as a panelist with the topic “Health tourism for Regions”, with which he contributed to the focus on showing the innate qualities of the country.

The basic idea of the conference was to show how health travel can stimulate change, economic growth and create employment opportunities. Also, the need to develop modern institutional frameworks that will meet the new, post-COVID era and changing the current “sun and sea” tourism model to a more “alternative” model that encompasses the demand of many more people. This event turned out to be an excellent opportunity for the Cluster for future cooperation with similar organizations.