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Glite Dictionary
health tourism

health tourism

1 3.5
Traveling to another country to get medical treatment or wellness care
  • noun
  • /hɛlθ ˈtʊrɪzəm/
: turismo de salud
  • During the pandemic, health tourism gained popularity as individuals looked for safer destinations for surgery.

Examples

  • "Health tourism" offers foreigners exclusive access to top-of-the-line medical facilities, efficient service, and the latest drugs, while the population is severely deprived of the most essential drugs and medical services.

    Academic text (1997)

  • You may consider health tourism.

    Blog text (16)

  • Many people seek health tourism to take advantage of affordable medical procedures abroad.

  • Countries promoting health tourism often advertise their advanced medical technologies and relaxing wellness retreats.

Synonyms

medical tourism
vshealth tourism
1 3.5

Travel to another country to get health care, often at lower cost

includes both medical treatment and wider wellness activities rather than only care

How Medical

health tourism
1 3.5

Surface Forms

health tourism singular
health tourisms plural

Morphology

health + tourism

The meaning 'traveling to receive medical treatment or wellness services' is directly and transparently built from 'health' (relating to medical/wellness) + 'tourism' (travel for services), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the compound. This compound follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern (cf. 'medical tourism') and uses standard noun-noun composition, making it readily comprehensible.

Etymology

Health tourism comes from the words health and tourism; imagine people travelling like tourists but to see doctors or relax at a spa. So it means 'to travel to another country or region to get medical treatment or wellness care'.