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Journal ArticleDOI

Exploring the Factors that Affect the Choice of Destination for Medical Tourism

29 Sep 2011-Journal of Service Science and Management (Scientific Research Publishing)-Vol. 04, Iss: 3, pp 315-324
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the interest in US travelers in medical tourism and found that "competent doctors, high quality medical treatment facility" and "prompt medical treatment when needed" were the top three factors before deciding whether or not to take a trip abroad.
Abstract: Medical Tourism has become one of the latest trends in the tourism industry which has been and has the potential to continue growing exponentially every year. More travelers than ever before are now travelling abroad to get high quality medical treatments for less cost. The purpose of my study is to explore the interest in US travelers in medical tourism. Results from the survey indicated that “competent doctors”, “high quality medical treatment facility”, and “prompt medical treatment when needed” where the top three factors before deciding whether or not to take a trip abroad. The results will be useful to businesses that are either directly or indirectly involved with this industry, such as insurance companies, credit card companies, travel agencies, hotels, food and beverage companies, medical facilities and services, and spas.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An overview is given of the short history and rapid rise of medical tourism, its documentation, and current knowledge and analysis of the industry.

465 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results show the MTI allows to measure meaningful differences between countries, not only on an aggregated level but also on each sub-indexes, and provides a useful tool for the various stakeholders to measure and manage their medical tourism destination brand.

183 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured tourist profiles, travel motivation and satisfaction among inbound tourists in Malaysia and found that tourists were extremely satisfied with dental care services received in the country.

70 citations


Cites background from "Exploring the Factors that Affect t..."

  • ...…whitening and dental implants), cosmetic surgery (e.g. rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, liposuction), organ, cell and tissue transplants (e.g. stem cell, organ transplantation) and cardiology (e.g. bypass, valve replacement surgery) (Gill & Singh, 2011; Heung, Kucukusta, & Song, 2011; Lunt et al., 2011)....

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  • ...The trend however has lately reversed with more people from developed nations travelling to developing countries for high quality medical care at a lower cost (Alleman et al., 2010; Chanda, 2002; Gill & Singh, 2011; Hall, 2011; Ormond, 2011; Vijaya, 2010; Wong & Musa, 2013)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the online marketing literature that promotes Argentina as a rising destination for cosmetic surgeries and finds that the surgical production of "body capital" is branded as an investment practice towards increasing one's value in the global market economy.

64 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) measurement scale for the medical tourist destinations (city/hospital) was developed. But, the measurement scale was not designed to evaluate the quality of the treatment.
Abstract: Purpose – Given the increasing dominance of medical tourism on the service economy of some of the developing nations, as a pioneering attempt, this study aims to develop a consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) measurement scale for the medical tourist destinations (city/hospital). Design/methodology/approach – Following the traditional marketing construct development process (qualitative study, purification study and validation study), in the present study, two sets of large and independent samples were assessed to judge the dimensionality of the measure. Findings – A well-validated measurement scale was developed as an amalgamation of four dimensions, namely, awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and authenticity to assess CBBE of medical destinations. Practical implications – To reduce the financial and physical risk associated with the purchase of treatment, the customers may rely on “authenticity” of the service providers to select a treatment destination. The outcomes would help medical administra...

47 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The rise of medical tourism emphasises the privatisation of health care, the growing dependence on technology, uneven access to health resources and the accelerated globalisation of both health care and tourism.

892 citations


"Exploring the Factors that Affect t..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Medical tourism as a niche market has emerged from the rapid growth of what has become an industry, where people travel often long distances to overseas countries to obtain medical, dental and surgical care while simultaneously being holidaymakers, in a more conventional sense [1]....

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  • ...Among others there are few specialized medical travel agents, like MedRetreat, can choose from a menu of 183 medical procedures from seven different countries: India, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, and South Africa....

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  • ...He goes about saying that while such situations have now radically changed but the perception of inadequacy remains [1]....

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  • ...“Some medical procedures, such as sex changes, have become small but significant parts of medical tourism, especially in Thailand, where recuperation and the consolidation of a new identity may be better experienced at a distance from standard daily life” [1]....

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  • ...“The principal hospital group in Singapore, Raffles, arranges airport transfers, books relatives into hotels and helps to arrange local tours” [1]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the quality dimension of wellness services, which is increasingly becoming the decisive competitive factor for the wellness industry and the importance of quality management plays an important role.
Abstract: The term ‘wellness’ is widely used in European tourism. The principal observations regarding the wellness industry concern an expanding supply of and an insufficiently researched demand for wellness programmes. The quality dimension of wellness services is increasingly becoming the decisive competitive factor. For this reason quality management plays an important role. Market research shows that average three- to five-star hotels provide fairly comprehensive wellness facilities. Wellness hotels should therefore specialise in health information, individual care and a wide range of cultural and relaxation programmes. Although the same hotel can host cure and wellness guests at the same time, these two segments have to be considered separately when deciding on the marketing strategy. It is therefore assumed that wellness is pursued solely by ‘healthy’ people, the prime aim being prevention. ‘Normal cure’ guests aim to heal their illness.

467 citations


"Exploring the Factors that Affect t..." refers background in this paper

  • ...They require a comprehensive service package comprising physical fitness/beauty care, healthy nutrition/diet, relaxation/ meditation and mental activity/education” [6]....

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  • ...So, if hotels around the world want to be ahead of competition, then they have to customize their marketing approach based which segment of tourists they are planning to capture: those who come for medical treatments or those who are travelling for pure relaxation [6]....

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Book
14 Jul 2007
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-analysis of the literature on medical tourism and its applications in the oil and gas industry and investigates the demand for offshore doctors and the supply of medical tourism.
Abstract: Acknowledgments An Introduction to Medical Tourism Plastic Surgery is Not Peanuts: Economic Growth and Dependency Offshore Doctors: The Demand for Medical Tourism Would You Like a Safari With Your Lasik Surgery? The Supply of Medical Tourism Promoting Medical Tourism: The Advantages Promoting Medical Tourism: The Obstacles Inequalities in Healthcare and the Role of Macroeconomic Policy References

416 citations


"Exploring the Factors that Affect t..." refers background in this paper

  • ...According to Bookman and Bookman, “a country or specific facility may be able to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace by leveraging various non-clinical factors, including proximity to target patients and the ease of travel between two locations” [7]....

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  • ...A lack of insurance portability discourages prospective clients to obtain treatment in developing country [7]....

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  • ...According to Bookman and Bookman [7], “the sale of high-tech medical care to foreigners has come to be called medical or health tourism”....

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  • ...The lenient terms of litigation and poor justice system in developing countries makes it difficult for patients to earn their rights of undertaking legal proceedings [7]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the perceived probability of occurrence, magnitude of threat and efficacy of official media on major types of risks from 1304 international tourists and examined the perceived usefulness of a set of measures that aims to strengthen the confidence of tourists.
Abstract: The recent phenomena of infectious diseases, natural disasters and terrorist attacks have imposed an unprecedented threat to the global tourism industry. This paper reports on a study that investigated the perceived probability of occurrence, magnitude of threat and efficacy of official media on major types of risks from 1304 international travellers. The study also examined the perceived usefulness of a set of measures that aims to strengthen the confidence of travellers. This paper should provide tourism practitioners and policy-makers an updated view from the perspective of travellers, which in turn, can assist the formulation of risk management strategies, an area that has long been of interest to tourism researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

220 citations


"Exploring the Factors that Affect t..." refers background in this paper

  • ...It becomes primary concern of tourism planners to address this topic prior to gaining confidence of Asian clients [29]....

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  • ...According to Law [29], media plays an important role in altering destination of choice more for Asians as opposed to Westerners....

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Journal ArticleDOI

218 citations


"Exploring the Factors that Affect t..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Although some writes have used the term “medical tourism” to incorporate all forms of health-related tourism [9] it seems to be more useful to distinguish ‘medical tourism’ as one involving specific medical interventions [1]....

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How do I go abroad for medical studies?

from the survey indicated that “competent doctors”, “high quality medical treatment facility”, and “prompt medical treatment when needed” where the top three factors before deciding whether or not to take a trip abroad.