The paper deals with approaches and challenges within the development of tourism product in
health tourism, especially in medical wellness. Three areas of the literature serve as a foundation of this
study: product development and competitiveness of destinations, health tourism and its development in
the Alpine region, and health tourism destinations as a place for product and service development. The
empirical study reports the results of an online questionnaire which was sent to 58 directors of Alpine
tourism destinations. The results reveal which components a health tourism product consists of;
furthermore, the findings show that prerequisites and requirements for health tourism products in the
Alpine regions range from specialized tourism services over specific medical treatments to natural
resources functioning as a fundament or basic requirement for health products. Finally, implications for
product development in Alpine health tourism destinations are discussed.