The 9th Health Tourism Industry Conference, one of the largest meeting points of health tourism professionals in Europe, was for the first time held in Brussels, Belgium. The conference was held in the conference area of the European Parliament, hosted by Ms. Ruža Tomašić, Croatian member of the European Parliament.

GCMA Global Cross-border Medical Alliance, Chinese platform for professional exchanges in medical industry, were one of the main guests of the conference talking about current situation of medical tourism industry in China, and showing potential opportunities for cooperation with Chinese institutions and professionals in this sector.

CSEBA and the Mayor of Krapinske Toplice, Mr. Ernest Svažić, presented development of medical tourism sector in his town and in Croatia. Last month, Krapinske Toplice were awarded by the Croatian National Tourism Board as the Best Medical Tourism Destination in Croatia for the year 2018. The Mayor shared their experiences, this year’s results and presented new projects for the coming period. He emphasized their cooperation with Chinese institutions and investors, pointing out that Krapinske Toplice are the location of the first Chinese direct investment in the hotel development in Croatia, and that Krapinske Toplice hosted the first Silk Road Tourism Workshop this January where Chinese traveling agencies were invited for professional matchmaking with Croatian ones.

HTi Conference attracted health tourism professionals from over 20 countries, and officially opened by Anna Athanasopoulou, Head of Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries Department of the European Commission. 2018 was the year of EU-China Tourism, with a huge number of cooperation events organised in various EU countries and PR China.

After the conference, main guests from China used the opportunity of being in Europe to travel to Croatia and visit the capital city Zagreb and Krapinske Toplice, where CSEBA presented new development projects in the sector.