Abstract:

Even though Turkey is a country with rich marine resources sorrounded by the sea on three sides, we do not know how to benefit from the opportunities and benefits offered us. Despite the concentration of domestic and foreign marine resources, the minerals and valuable elements that it contains, marine products are not widely used for therapeutic purposes. This shows us that sea, sea products and health care that can come from the sea are not given sufficient importance in Turkey. However, beneficial elements and minerals found in seawater are good for various illnesses and health problems. Furthermore, the human body feel could be made refreshed and could completely treat certain diseases. Even, when a seaweed is applied to the human body, it strengthens the immune system by stimulating the cells and accelerates blood circulation. Therefore, this paper deals with the Thalassotherapy (the combination of Greek Thalasso & Therapy words) method, its applications and benefits to the human body. It completes the missing parts of the thalassotherapy method in the health tourism literature. The first center of Thalassotherapy is in France, but today it is applied in almost all European countries. Thalassotherapy is a method of treatment in which the substances obtained from the sea, such as water, mud, sand and algae, are applied in a certain way with the support of experts in several sessions. Turkey has a very convenient environment for the implementation of its applications. However, there are only ten licenced thalassotherapy business in our country. Most of them are included in luxury hotels as idle. Despite the fact that sea water carries the same organic qualities as blood plasma, the method of thalassotherapy is still unknown up to date. Through this work, more awareness of thalassotherapy is tried to be raised by drawing attention to such initiatives as increasing awareness of thalassotherapy and its use in health tourism, increasing the number of establishments opening more therapy centers under the leadership of specialists as well as increasing marine treatments and making more use of marine products

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