HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF TRAVEL WITH THE PURPOSE OF HEALTH CARE
Authors:   Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Ukraine, Shchuka Halyna 
Published: July 2023

Health tourism shows a high rate of development compared to other types of tourism, which is due to a number of objective factors: the increase in the number of elderly people, the deterioration of the psycho-emotional and spiritual state of the population, the imperfection of the existing national health care systems against the background of the spread of the philosophy of a healthy lifestyle (wellness), growth of solvency and the awareness of potential consumers. Despite the growing popularity, this type of tourism remains insufficiently studied and understood both at the level of theory and practice, that complicates the interaction between providers and consumers of medical and health services. Probably, a significant part of the misunderstandings is caused by the complexity of this phenomenon that covers three areas: tourism, medicine and medical practice, the duration of its formation in the course of several millennia, and the geography of distribution. The purpose of this work is to make a historical review of the development of health tourism from ancient times to the present. Methodology. The research was implemented using systematic and complex approaches; is based on the analysis of a large number of materials on this problem, the authors of which are well-known foreign and domestic scientists, international organizations. The following methods were used: data analysis and comparison to identify general development trends, common and specific features of various forms of tourism in countries and regions; systematization and generalization. The scientific novelty of the work is that the development of medical tourism is analyzed from three following positions: development of tourism, medicine and medical practice that allows us to explain a number of contradictions in understanding the essence of this type of travel. Results. The results of the analysis has showed that the development of health tourism is a long, dynamic, controversial process, which in different countries and regions has developed at its own pace in different directions and it has led to the formation of a number of subspecies (balneological, resort, spa, wellness, thermal, etc.), which partially overlap and coincide in terms of services. The processes of globalization, on the one hand, have a positive effect on the market of health tourism; on the other hand, they complicate the formation of the offer. Practical consequences. Understanding the history of the emergence and development of health tourism makes it possible to navigate the offer in the regional markets of this type of tourism and to form a national tourism product in view of the trends of its development and the needs of the consumer, taking into account the existing paradigm of health. Conclusions. Having undergone a long period of development spanning several millennia, the health tourism has split into several directions, among which health (spa, wellness) and medical tourism dominate only in recent decades. Geography of their distribution is determined both by existing traditions and by the level of state support.