While Greece is famous for its beaches and archaeological sites, there’s another form of tourism that is booming: medical tourism.

Greece is becoming an internationally recognised hub for IVF treatments, and leading the charge is Greek Australian doctor Kostas Pantos.

Since opening his Athens Genesis clinic in 2004, Dr Pantos has helped thousands of couples conceive, and he says more than 2,000 of those babies have been born to Australian families.

His clinic has seen a huge jump in applications from Australia and around the world thanks to word of mouth and ideal conditions in Greece.

“At the moment Greece is a hot spot concerning in vitro fertilisation,” Dr Pantos tells Neos Kosmos.

“We’ve got couples coming here from 34 countries around the world, including from Australia.”

Greece is a unique stop for those seeking IVF treatments. It’s considerably cheaper for couples (the US is four times more expensive, and the UK is twice as costly), many of the clinics in Greece have high IVF success rates. Additionally, the law is on the couple’s side.

Unlike Australia, IVF donors are completely anonymous, meaning that couples don’t have to deal with the risk of the donor and the child reuniting. It’s something Dr Pantos says is important for couples who can’t conceive naturally.

“Many couples also come for donations, because in Australia you have known donors and the children and donors are able to find each other through a separate bank,” Dr Pantos says.

“In Greece it’s an unknown donor, and no one has the ability to find each other. This is by law, so this is very good, because they don’t come into contact with each other which means no complications.”

Amazingly, despite the Greek economic crisis, reproductive tourism hasn’t been affected at all, and in fact is seeing a huge rise in popularity.

“My clinic here was up 20 per cent this year and was up 30 per cent last year even though we have the financial crisis, which means people are coming no matter what,” Dr Pantos says.

On Monday, Dr Pantos travelled to London to host a conference, hoping to cultivate the industry more and add to Greece’s tourism trade.

With him travelled a former client and fan, Greek Australian Mary Coustas.

The much loved comedian and actress felt compelled to join Dr Pantos and tell her own success story to prospective couples.

Returning to Australia on Thursday, she says it was a privilege to help.

“I feel a lifelong debt to Dr Pantos, because he got me over the line,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“I did 15 IVFs in Australia and I did eight with him in Athens, 23 all up.”

Suffering a miscarriage in between treatments, Mary Coustas was finally able to conceive and bring to term her miracle baby Jamie, now 18 months old.

It was her IVF connection to Greece that brought her back last year, to christen her daughter in Tinos.

At the christening was Dr Pantos, proud as can be.

He’s dealt with many cases like Coustas’, of couples with almost no hope to conceive and exhausted from failed attempts.

“There was a couple from Melbourne which had the most IVF attempts that I have ever seen, 44 failed attempts in the past,” Dr Pantos says.

“Now they have twins.”

In one case, Dr Pantos met an American woman that was told by four different IVF clinics in her country that it wasn’t possible for her to conceive.

She fell pregnant in Greece, and is organising another trip to try for a second child.

“Nothing good comes from giving up,” Mary Coustas says.

“Whatever it takes. Wherever it takes you.”

While Dr Pantos has been labelled a miracle worker, he stresses that there are cases where nothing can be done and says he is very honest about people’s chances.

He hopes that Greece can harness the potential of reproductive tourism and expects to be hosting more international events to muster up support.

In the next couple of months, he’s hoping to visit New York and speak to the Greek diaspora, before organising a trip back to Australia.

It is estimated that around 1,000 women travel to Greece to seek IVF treatments.