ITB Berlin facilitates networking for the medical tourism community

Maria Afsar Nazari is the Creator and Director of MariaCares Sweden AB – a platform where patients can seek medical treatment all over the world. She is a medical tourism professional with more than 14 years in the field including 7 years of professional experience in patient service and 7 years of building networks between hospitals and medical professionals in 30 countries all around the world. She has also participated in over 20 valuable medical tourism B2B events and conferences over the last 10 years. ITB Berlin News caught up with her to discuss her experience at ITB Berlin this year.

What were your main objectives at ITB Berlin this year? How was your experience of the show?
My main objective this year has been the networking and exchange of professional experience.

How do you find the medical tourism segment is developing at ITB Berlin?
I see it as a “stage”, as a platform for networking development within a professional international medical tourism community. The development of a health travel sector at ITB Berlin is moving towards the right direction.

What are some of the main trends in the medical tourism industry? What are your predictions for the future?
In my professional opinion, the ITB Berlin health travel section is already following the up-to-date trends in medical tourism such as: sustainability, more integration of medical tourism into wellness and spa sector, and all the possible changes coming to our industry via rapidly developing technologies (AI etc). These are the topics that will be covered more and more for future events.