Croatia: Croatia Urged to Market its Bargain Medical Services

Croatia has top class surgeons, advanced medical technology and, according to recent research by the portal CroMedicor, up to 65 % cheaper prices for plastic surgery than the EU.

Breast enlargement operations in Croatia cost around 3,300 euro less than they do in Italy, and 1,159 euro less than in Germany, whilst ear pinning costs 500 euro less in Croatia than in Slovenia and a massive 3,145 euro less than in the UK.

But local experts say that Croatia will have trouble attracting additional clients unless it works hard on branding itself as a medical tourism destination.

Few foreigners come today to Croatia for plastic surgery, as Turkey and Far Eastern nations such as Singapore and South Korea remain additional popular destinations for those wanting surgery on the cheap.

“For years we have been selling just sun and the sea, whilst we neglect to promote other forms of tourism, meaning that Croatia is not branded as a country for medical tourism,” Miljenko Bure, president of the Medical Tourism Development Association, said.

Bure said that Croatia needs to invest in branding itself as a medical tourism destination over the next two years, prime by developing current capacities.

“Investors from Germany, Austria and the United Arab Emirates are interested in investing in [medical tourism in] Croatia, but for them approaching, Croatia needs to invest in…developing projects that can be presented to investors,” Bure told the daily newspaper Vecernji inventory.