How to attract international patients: digital steps in health tourism

Attracting patients from abroad is not a job you solve with a single ad campaign. Patients need to find you in their own language, feel trust on the page they land on, get a fast reply when they write and see their whole programme clearly, from treatment to accommodation. If one link in this chain is missing, the ad budget brings only clicks instead of patients.

In this guide we answer the question of how to attract international patients with digital steps, in order: from the legal groundwork and choosing target countries to a site in the target language, search and ads, fast replies and measurement. Here we look at the health tourism side of our tourism website guide, which also covers transfer and tour businesses, from a marketing angle. This article is not legal advice; on regulatory topics we point you to the official text.

Legal groundwork first

Before you start marketing, be clear about which rules apply to you. The Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health of 26 April 2025 (Resmî Gazete, the Turkish Official Gazette, as published) requires health facilities and intermediary organisations to obtain an authorisation certificate before they can offer international health tourism services. Under the regulation, the Ministry of Health issues the certificate to health facilities, and Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri Anonim Şirketi (USHAŞ, International Health Services Inc.) issues it to intermediary organisations.

We summarised what the regulation expects from websites and promotion in our health tourism website guide. The regulation also brings obligations outside marketing, such as complication insurance for surgical and interventional procedures performed in an operating theatre. Before you plan your campaigns, read the current text and confirm your own situation with the Ministry of Health, USHAŞ or your legal adviser.

Target country and treatment: the first decision in attracting patients from abroad

Trying to speak to the whole world at once spreads both your budget and your team too thin. Start your plan to bring in patients from abroad with one or two countries and the treatments in demand there. When you choose, look for answers to these questions:

• Where do your current patients come from: Your records are the first clue; in countries you already receive patients from, demand can also grow through recommendations.
• Which languages does your team speak: If you cannot run consultations in a language, advertising in that country makes less sense.
• How easy is travel: Whether there are direct flights from the patient’s country to your city affects their decision. Well-connected hubs such as Antalya Airport or the airports in Istanbul have an advantage here.
• Which treatment are you strongest in: Put forward the treatment where your medical team and your certificates are strongest.

Once you have set the country and treatment match, build every step around it. The site language, keywords, ad targeting and consultation team should all aim at the same target.

A site in the target language

Ads and search bring patients to your site; the decision is made on the site. A patient in the target country should see the treatment pages, doctor information, accreditations and consultation form complete and in their own language. We explain in detail which sections the site should have in the health tourism website guide mentioned above; here we sum up the points that directly affect marketing:

• A separate page in the target language for every treatment
• Texts read by an editor who is a native speaker of that language
• A consultation form and WhatsApp button visible on every page
• Landing pages for ads, specific to the treatment and the language
• Correct markup of every language version for search engines

The last point is technical but important: if language versions are not marked up correctly, a patient searching in German may see your English page. We explain hreflang and URL structure in our multilingual website SEO guide.

Arrange treatment headings so they open with a single click from the main menu, and keep the consultation form and WhatsApp button visible on every page. The aim is that whichever page patients enter the site from, they reach the treatment they are looking for and the consultation request in one step.

Search and ads

Organic search

Patients often start their research with a question: how the treatment works, how many days they need to stay in Türkiye, which documents to bring. Treatment pages and blog posts that answer these questions in the target language create a channel that keeps working when the ad budget runs out. Building pages around treatment and city pairs is similar to the route page logic we describe in our SEO for transfer companies guide.

Google and Meta ads

Ads are the fastest way to collect requests until organic visibility builds up. Set up campaigns separately for each country and language, send each ad to the relevant treatment page in that language, and measure form submissions and WhatsApp clicks. An ad that leads to a general home page makes it harder for patients to find the treatment they are looking for.

Set up measurement before the ads. Form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and phone calls should be defined as separate conversions. An ad that runs without measurement does not show in which country and for which treatment the budget is working.

For health tourism businesses, we set up and manage multilingual ad campaigns aimed at patients in target countries, and connect incoming requests directly to the patient tracking panel. When requests gather in one panel, your team sees and follows every request from the same place.

Ad texts and visuals are also subject to the rules on health promotion. The Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services (Resmî Gazete, as published) requires the keywords used in search engines and the information that appears on the results page to follow the regulation’s principles. The same regulation bans marketing methods such as inducements, prize draws and gifts, and advertising by SMS, email or social sharing tools without the person’s consent.

Social media

Instagram and similar channels are where patients get to know you and see your team. Content about your doctors, your clinic and the treatment process builds trust. If you plan to use patient images, Article 7 of the promotion regulation, as published, sets these rules:

• Consent form: The patient’s explicit consent is obtained with the Visual Content Recording and Processing Consent Form annexed to the regulation. The patient can see the image before it is shared and can withdraw permission at any time.
• Date: The image states the date of the procedure and the date the image was taken.
• Comments: Posts with images are fully closed to comments; patient comments and thanks about the images are not shared.
• Sponsored posts: These images cannot be published as sponsored or paid content on social media or websites.
• Who posts: The health facility or the health professional concerned makes the post with images themselves; having someone else post it does not remove this responsibility.

Before and after images that compare the effects of treatment and create demand, and patient images taken during surgery or in the operating theatre, cannot be shared either. Check the current text before you prepare your content calendar.

Platforms and partners

Alongside your own channels, you can also reach patients in other ways. Each channel has different strengths and weaknesses:

• Health tourism platforms: Show your organisation in the lists where patients compare providers. They bring fast visibility but present you side by side with your competitors.
• Intermediary organisations: Bring patients together with consultation, accommodation and transfers. Check whether the intermediary you plan to work with has an authorisation certificate.
• Hotel and transfer partners: Make the patient’s journey easier and strengthen your package.
• HealthTürkiye: Under the regulation, USHAŞ supports the promotion and information activities of health facilities and intermediary organisations under the HealthTürkiye brand.

Platform and partner channels do not replace your own site. Patients who come through a platform may also look at your site before they decide; if they do not find a page there that inspires trust in their own language, the process stops halfway.

Fast replies: form, WhatsApp and one panel

An international patient may write to several providers at once and turn to the one that gives the first meaningful reply. That is why the time from the moment a request arrives to the first reply is one of the most important steps in winning patients in health tourism. If requests are spread across the web form, WhatsApp and Instagram, this time grows and some requests are never answered.

Collect requests from every channel in one panel and assign an owner to every request. The structure we describe in our health tourism solutions comes from this need: requests from the web form, WhatsApp and Instagram land in one patient tracking panel, and every patient can be answered in their own language.

Prepare approved reply templates in every language for frequent questions: the treatment process, the documents needed, accommodation and transfer options. Templates shorten reply times and make sure everyone on the team gives patients the same information.

An AI assistant can give the first reply to questions that arrive outside working hours. The assistant should reply only with information you have approved and pass the questions it is not sure about to your team; medical assessment always stays with the doctor. We set up assistants like this as part of our AI and automation service.

Treatment, accommodation and transfers in one package

A patient from abroad plans not only the treatment but the whole journey: the flight, the airport pickup, the hotel, treatment and follow-up days, and the return. Showing these parts in one programme makes the patient’s decision easier and sets you apart from providers that only quote a price.

Plan treatment dates, accommodation and the airport transfer in the same patient record, so that both the patient and your team see the whole programme in one place. The programme you send the patient should include at least:

• Arrival and return flights
• The meeting point and transfer times
• The hotel and accommodation days
• Treatment and follow-up appointments
• The person the patient will be in touch with, and the language they speak

The regulation also defines the intermediary organisation as the body that does this work: the certified organisation that advises the patient and arranges the health facility, accommodation, travel and transfers. According to the text as published, if the intermediary is not itself an authorised travel agency, it must provide accommodation, travel and transfer services through travel agencies authorised under Law No. 1618 on Travel Agencies and the Association of Travel Agencies (Article 6/2-a). Check the current text before you build your package around this rule.

If you run this work together with an intermediary organisation, make sure the programme looks the same on both sides.

Which channel brings patients?

Clicks and form numbers can be misleading. The real question is which channel brings the patient who arrives for treatment. To see this, record the source of every request from the first moment and follow it through the process:

1. Request: Which channel, which campaign, which language.
2. Initial assessment: Has a doctor reviewed it.
3. Quote: Has a quote been sent to the patient.
4. Date: Has the treatment date been confirmed.
5. Treatment: Has the patient arrived, and have the follow-ups been completed.

When you follow this chain by channel, you can split the budget by the patients who arrive, not by clicks. Measurement and regular reports that show what each channel brings in are a core part of our social media and digital marketing service.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an authorisation certificate?

The Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health requires health facilities and intermediary organisations that offer international health tourism services to obtain an authorisation certificate. The Ministry of Health issues the certificate to facilities, and USHAŞ to intermediary organisations. Ask these bodies or your legal adviser whether your own situation falls within the scope.

Which country should I focus on?

Start with one or two countries where your current patients come from, where your team can consult in the language and where travel to your city is easy. Add new countries after you measure the first results. Every new country means a new language, new content and a new consultation workload.

A platform listing or my own website?

The two are not alternatives to each other. Platforms bring fast visibility but limit your relationship with the patient and your presentation. Your own site, on the other hand, is the channel that grows over time and stays under your control; use platforms for visibility at the start and your site for long-term trust.

How fast should I reply to a request?

As soon as possible. The patient may have written to several providers at once, and the one that gives the first meaningful reply moves ahead. Aim to reply within the same day during working hours, and outside working hours to send an automatic first reply and get back to the patient on the next business day.

If you want to look at your site, your request collection and your measurement together to attract patients from abroad, let’s talk about your project. Before the meeting, note down your target country, the channels you receive requests from today and the languages your team can consult in; this makes it easier to turn the plan into concrete steps.