Keywords
SPA
wellness
rheumatic diseases
treatment
How to Cite
Abstract
In recent years, the concept of "medical tourism" has become popular, due to the increasing interest of governments in search of new sectors for sustainable growth. This trend guarantees an improvement not only of the services offered, but also a significant boost in the socio-economic and political relations between the individual countries. This paper presents a historical overview, challenges and future perspectives for the development of the “medical and spa” tourism sector in the coming years. By providing critical evaluation, this research identified 3109 publications, of which we selected only 11 that met the additional criterion of association with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. In light of existing literature, the number of publications showing the contribution of spa and medical trourism, as well as physical therapy, in the treatment of rheumatic diseases has significantly increased. The presence of a great number of mineral springs on the territory of Bulgaria and Romania makes them competitive with the already famous resorts in Germany, Austria and Czech Republic. The present research focus on the current state of medical and spa tourism is based on published scolarly articles and data obtained from different soures as well as the websites of the Ministry of tourism of Bulgaria and websites of the resorts.
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