Albanian stomatologist Emin Kuzumi (R) explains the results of a teeth scan to Stefane Pealat (C) ahead of an intervention at the Gremi Clinic in Tirana on September 18, 2024 – AFP
Once Europe's North Korea, a cloistered communist dictatorship, Albania now attracts millions of tourists annually, with an increasing number seeking radiant smiles, luscious lips, or enhanced breasts. "I don't like to talk about medical tourism. It's a bit scary," said Dritan Gremi, who heads a dental clinic in the capital Tirana. "I prefer to talk about happiness tourism, which makes people happy." Gremi's clinic offers "high-quality care with equipment guaranteed and certified" to European standards at a fraction of the price. He has Italian, French, Belgian, and Swiss clients often lured with package deals that include travel and accommodation costs.
With scandals about shoddy work and disfigured clients tarnishing medical tourism elsewhere, Albanian health authorities insist on high-quality care. Prosecutors recently checked 30 cosmetic clinics for contraband products and Botox, banned in Albania. Stephane Pealat's journey to Albania began with hopes for an affordable new smile. He and his brother, from Valence in the south of France, have long suffered from dental problems, including tooth loss that led him to seek a complex dental implant procedure. "In France, we had an initial estimate which was very expensive. Then we started looking online – Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Spain," Pealat told AFP. He learned about the Gremi clinic during a consultation session in Lyon with Albanian dentists. After an initial visit in August to tour the facilities in Tirana, Pealat and his brother returned in the autumn.
According to Pealat, the dental implant operation he opted for cost roughly 50,000 euros ($54,000) in France, compared to just 13,500 euros in Albania. "It is important to have a beautiful smile," he said. Nathalie Gangloff, an event organizer at a nursing home in Cognac in western France, also chose an Albania clinic to treat her dental issues. "My doctor in France told me about a TV documentary" about medical tourism in Albania, Gangloff told AFP. She paid under 15,000 euros to have her teeth done compared to the 42,000 euros she would have spent in France. After extractions and implants in February, she returned to Tirana in mid-September for her final work, happy to have regained her smile. "With my job, it's important to have beautiful teeth and a good hairdo," she told AFP, immediately changing her Facebook profile picture to show off her new pearly whites.
Low overheads and taxes have helped Albanian clinics attract customers with lower prices. The country's medical tourism sector is estimated to earn between 200 and 250 million euros a year, with at least 50,000 Italians visiting Tirana for treatment annually. However, the procedures are not risk-free. The head of Albania's national doctors association, Fatmir Ibrahimaj, advises both foreign and local patients not to rely solely on online advertising for cosmetic procedures and to do their due diligence before undergoing treatment. "A doctor is not a five-star or no-star hotel," Ibrahimaj told reporters. For Anna Maria, an Italian from Milan, the "smile of the soul passes also through the lips." The psychologist in her 30s – who did not want to give her surname – visited Albania for dental veneers and a lip procedure to improve her smile.
More and more foreign tourists are also getting cosmetic treatments to brighten their smile, said Monika Fida, a dermatologist and university lecturer in Tirana. Injections of hyaluronic acid into the lips are particularly popular. "Above all, they want to feel good, and have well-shaped lips as naturally as possible," added Fida, who said between 750 and 1,000 foreign patients visit her clinic every year. Vera Panaitov, a 60-year-old Italian chef from Verona, initially came to have her teeth done. But once in Tirana, she opted for procedures on her breasts and waist. "You have to be beautiful at any age and experience love and happiness at every moment," she told AFP, smiling from her hospital bed, feeling "happy and rejuvenated." Christine Cincunegui, a French businesswoman, may soon follow her. In Paris, she seemed set on going ahead with a dental procedure in Albania after consulting practitioners visiting the French capital. "Feeling more beautiful and having fun? What more do we want?" she told AFP.
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