Therapeutic - Spa tourism

Apart from the rare landscapes and special natural beauties, nature also endowed Greece with springs with important therapeutic properties. Spas are part of the country’s national wealth, while their therapeutic properties were already known in ancient times.
Natural mineral resources are scattered all over the country; while the water of these springs differs from common water, either due to the high temperature or to the presence of rare drastic components. The water of these springs is marked as mineral water, because of the temperature or the general chemical composition. Apart from cold mineral springs, there are also hot springs and these are the ones used in therapeutic treatment: spa hydrotherapy (thermalism).   
The geographic allocation of the springs is not accidental as it is connected either with tectonic events, as is the case for example for the springs of Kaifa, Kyllini and Langada, or with volcanic activities, as in the case of the springs of Methana, Milos, Lesbos, Samothrace, and Limnos. 
Hydrotherapy is particularly important for the treatment of multiple affections such as arthritis and rheumatic diseases, and falls into two categories:  
-internal therapy, which includes drinking therapy (drinking of natural mineral waters), inhalation therapy (inhalation of fumes or droplets of mineral water) and lavages (oral, nasal, gynaecological)
-external therapy, which includes baths, jet showers (the body is hit by thermal mineral water under high or low pressure for a specific period of time), hydromassaging (the pressure of the water massages the body), hydrokinesotherapy (combination of balneotherapy and kinesotherapy for the period of time the body is inside the water) and fangotherapy (application of mud, which has “ripened”, on those parts of the body that suffer from various disorders).
For the development of spa tourism and, in general, of health tourism, two thalassotherapy  centres are already operating on Crete under the special operation sign of the Greek National Tourism Organisation and two more are under construction.
This category of tourist infrastructure also includes 16 hydro-treatment centres (in Natural Mineral Springs of tourist importance), in which 1,400,000 therapeutic treatments (baths etc) are offered to approximately 100,000 individuals, as well as hydro-treatment centres at 40 springs of local importance (source:  National Statistical Service of Greece). One more hydro-treatment centre is under construction.