Healthy tourism consists on the attention given to people who want to enjoy places where they find healthy, educational and recreational leisure doings and at the same time they can take care of their health. In Cuba there are many tourists that arrive in search of this option, because its climate is beneficent to treat any suffering, either physical or psychological.

To offer such services, our nation mainly uses its natural resources: beaches, forests, mountains, rivers, lakes and falls; and also its cultural resources as parties, traditions, historical monuments and popular art. All of these elements are part of the tourist patrimony of the country.

The benefits of this activity are varied and they are used according to the requirements of the tourists that travel in search of improving their health, either for curing chronic illnesses, fighting addictions or controlling the weight among other things.

Some of the main areas related with health tourism in our nation are: the chiropractor that includes a great diversity of massages which strongly influence in the health of people, they improve the circulation of blood, relax the muscles, help complete the digestion process and stimulate the lymphatic system; the physiotherapy, one of the best therapies that provide a body, mind and spirit balance and uses massages with floral essences and nectars, as well as mud, among other variants. Related to dermatology, the procedures that are applied are exclusively Cuban, fundamentally based on the exfoliation treatments to renovate and to revitalize the skin: baths of milk, solar exfoliation, and facial massages with yogurt and papaya, etc.

These offers are included in several tourist facilities of the country, fundamentally in the hotels of the beach areas. Some of the most outstanding ones in this service are those located in Santa Maria Cay in Villa Clara and those at Santa Lucia Beach in Cienfuegos.  

Many of our tourist facilities also include other services like the special nutrition programs, yoga and meditation; gyms with state of the art technology and hydrotherapy. In this last area, the hotels in Varadero, Southern Long Cay and Coco Cay are leaders because these places have spectacular health installations based on the treatment with water (spa).  

San Diego Baths, in Pinar del Rio is one of the natural places with more healing properties. The thermal and medicinal waters of this spa are very efficient to treat epidermal illnesses and help the scaring process.

One of the most well-known facilities in the country in offering services of health to the vacationers is in the tourist center Topes de Collante, in the province of Sancti Spíritus: the Escambray Kurhotel located on a hill of the mountains. In this place rehabilitation and revitalization services are offered which are described in 10 health programs, besides the lodging and gastronomical services that depend on the type of treatment (directed free diets or medical diets according to the indications of the program).

The hotel has a specialized medical team, a gym and a heated pool.

Another of the healing procedures that healthy tourism includes, offered by Cuba, is the echo tourism that consists on the appreciation of the environment (so much natural as cultural) and it welcomes and it sensitizes the travelers. This option is among the proposals of all the tourist centers of the country, because all of them have incredibly charming landscapes, as well as the traditions and history that are part of the package.

The swim with dolphins, considered an excellent sub-aquatic treatment, is a special offer that contributes essentially to avoid stress and to acquire psychological balance. The dolphinarium of Varadero and that of Baconao Park propose this relaxing activity in their list of entertainments.

These are just some examples of places that offer the healthy tourism in our nation; the exact number is very big, so much of specialized clinics as of assistance centers and therapeutic communities dedicated entirely to look after the well-being of their visitors.

In Cuba the fantasy of resting, having fun and physical well-being altogether can come true, because it has excellent places where the health and the recreation are merged.

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