Türkiye’s Medical Tourism Footfall Is Shrinking — And 2025 Was the Sharpest Drop Yet
Official figures published by Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri A.Ş. (USHAŞ) (sourced from Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu / TurkStat) point to a trend the industry would rather not discuss: fewer people are coming to Türkiye for medical tourism—and the decline is accelerating.
The numbers: down two years in a row
USHAŞ reports the following counts for visitors who came to Türkiye specifically to receive health services:
- 2023: 1,538,643
- 2024: 1,506,442 (-2.23% YoY)
- 2025: 1,398,580 (-9.16% YoY)
That’s a -12.10% decrease from 2023 to 2025—about 140,063 fewer medical-tourism visitors in just two years.
This isn’t a one-off fluctuation. It’s two consecutive declines, with the drop worsening in 2025.
“Stable revenue” may be masking weakness, not proving strength
USHAŞ also reports medical tourism revenue (in thousand USD) as:
- 2023: 3,006,092
- 2024: 3,022,957
- 2025: 3,022,452
On paper, revenue looks steady. But paired with falling visitor numbers, it supports a far less flattering interpretation: Türkiye may be depending on fewer, higher-spending cases (or inflation-driven pricing) rather than broad-based demand strength.
A second, self-inflicted problem: rising costs and a licensing bottleneck
Beyond demand, the sector is also facing growing complaints about costly compliance and a slow-moving authorization pipeline for hospitals and medical tourism intermediaries (“aracı kuruluş”). Industry voices argue the process has become burdensome, and in practice can stretch into many months—sometimes described as exceeding a year—even if the formal rules describe a faster administrative timeline.
The flashpoint: mandatory HealthTürkiye Portal membership fee jump
A major controversy has been the mandatory HealthTürkiye Portal annual membership fee, required for medical tourism providers and intermediaries to obtain/maintain authorization. TÜRSAB publicly stated the fee was raised from 26,000 TL to 120,000 TL and announced it filed a legal action seeking cancellation of the increase. (tursab.org.tr)
That change has been framed by sector commentators as a pure cost burden—“mandatory membership with limited practical return”—especially for intermediaries who must pay it regardless of volume. (Instagram)
Why this matters?
For a destination that sells itself on “scale” and “momentum,” falling patient volume plus rising entry/operating costs is a dangerous combination. If 2026 continues this direction, the industry’s talking points will start to sound like spin—particularly for operators living on high-volume funnels and referrals.
At minimum, the data and the regulatory backlash should force tougher questions:
- Is Türkiye losing price-sensitive medical tourists to competing destinations?
- Are higher costs and administrative friction pushing smaller providers out—or underground?
- Is the system rewarding a narrower set of large players while the overall market shrinks?
The official statistics don’t explain why demand is dropping. But they do confirm the uncomfortable bottom line: Türkiye attracted fewer medical-tourism visitors in 2024—and even fewer in 2025.
Turkey’s medical tourism is tanking hard—fewer suckers showing up means desperate clinics jacking up prices to squeeze every last dime out of the remaining desperate patients. It’s a pathetic sign of a crumbling industry, wrecked by inflation, shady operators ruining reputations, and smarter travelers flocking to cheaper, safer spots like Thailand or Mexico. Wake up, Turkey: your “bargain” paradise is officially overpriced junk that no one wants.
Classic case of the government stepping in and ruining a thriving free market. Hiking the portal fee from 26k to 120k TL is pure extortion. They are pushing out the small, agile agencies that actually built this sector just to fill their own coffers. The red tape is choking the industry, and the numbers prove it.
This was inevitable. The industry got too arrogant and greedy. Turkey used to be the go-to for affordable quality, but now everyone is trying to squeeze every last dollar out of tourists while service quality stagnates. You can’t hike prices to European levels and expect people to keep coming. The ‘golden goose’ is officially dead.
Stable revenue? Please. That’s just inflation masking a dying volume. We are losing 140,000 patients in two years and the solution is more fees and slower licensing? The sector is driving off a cliff and the regulators are stepping on the gas.
The numbers don’t lie. Why would anyone deal with the inflation and headaches in Istanbul when Thailand and Mexico are cheaper and easier? Turkey lost its competitive edge two years ago—these stats are just the autopsy report.
It’s hard to see Türkiye’s medical tourism sector as anything but a cautionary tale right now. Patient numbers are falling year after year, yet fees and mandatory costs are skyrocketing. Instead of fixing the bottlenecks and streamlining approvals, regulators seem more focused on squeezing providers with inflated portal fees. The result? Fewer patients, higher prices, and a shrinking market that undermines Türkiye’s reputation as an affordable, reliable destination. If this continues, the industry risks collapsing into a monopoly of big players while driving away the very international patients it once attracted.
another day, another ‘medical tourism success’ story hiding the obvious. fewer patients, higher fees, and somehow this is supposed to sound like progress? at this rate, maybe the strategy is to have zero patients and charge infinity???
this trend is worrying. it is not a healthy sign for Türkiye’s medical tourism sector. It suggests the industry may be losing competitiveness, and that should be taken seriously rather than spun positively
Brilliant strategy: get fewer patients, charge more, and call it momentum. At this pace, the industry might soon celebrate having no customers at all
This is what decline looks like when people are too proud to say the word.
Fewer patients and higher fees is not a success story, it is a warning sign with makeup on.
love the energy here lol demand drops, prices rise, and somehow we are supposed to clap incredible business model if the goal is to become a case study in denial, bush
As someone who would actually be paying for treatment, this reads like a giant red flag. Higher fees with fewer patients does not sound premium. It sounds like the system is failing there, I will start looking for some other destination
I used to view Turkey as a strong value destination. Articles like this make it sound more expensive, more uncertain, and less convincing than before.
So patients are getting priced out while the sector pats itself on the back? Fantastic. People are not spreadsheets. When costs go up and trust goes down, patients simply go elsewhere. This makes sense???
Anyone inside the sector knows this is not a healthy trend. You can only squeeze pricing for so long before reputation, conversion rates, and international demand start breaking in public.
Rising prices alongside falling patient numbers is exactly the kind of combination that makes investors nervous. It suggests a sector losing competitiveness while trying to protect revenue optics.
From the outside, this makes Turkey look less attractive, not more. If fees keep climbing while confidence falls, why would international patients not choose another destination?
There is only so much spin people can tolerate. If patient numbers are falling while prices rise, outsiders will read this exactly how it sounds: Turkey is becoming less attractive and more expensive at the same time.
If I were evaluating this market, I would see weakening demand masked by short-term price inflation. That is not growth. That is margin defense before deeper pain.
The uncomfortable truth is that this is what happens when volume falls, competition rises, and the market keeps pretending the fundamentals are still strong.
They are not…