Daily Times

Attila Knott has an empty clinic that he had planned to open as a dental hospital in Hungary in March of 2020. But the foreigners with bad teeth he had expected to treat then were deterred by COVID-19. The high cost of travel and economic uncertainty have emerged as concerns for some potential patients since travel restrictions were lifted, he said. The global medical tourism industry, a beneficiary of low-cost travel and open borders, is struggling to recover from the hit it took during the pandemic, operators and analysts say. “People are more cautious,” Knott told Reuters, staring at the empty building across the street from his existing Kreativ Dental clinic. “They think twice about spending big money all at once on something like dental treatment.” The businessman will now open it in the spring with Hungarian government financial backing as a clinic offering not only dental implants, but other minor surgeries, too, the company said in a statement to Reuters on March 17. Knott said those could include colonoscopies and knee replacements.