Driven by advanced technology and globalization, the world is becoming increasingly interconnected, and healthcare is following suit. Today, many people have the option to travel to different corners of the world to fulfill their healthcare needs. In this article, we will explore the who, what, where, when, why and how of modern-day Health Tourism.
What is Health Tourism?
Health tourism is a growing phenomenon that involves traveling to another country or region for the purpose of receiving health-related services. Health tourism can be roughly divided into three distinct categories: Medical Tourism, Wellness Tourism, and Aesthetic Tourism.
Medical tourism
It is the core branch of health tourism, and refers to patients seeking diagnosis, treatment, and/or rehabilitation for various medical conditions outside of their country of residence. Some of the widely sought-after treatments or procedures include cancer treatment, transplantation procedures, fertility treatment and advanced surgery. These are often complex, costly, or unavailable in the home country of the patient, and are therefore, obtained abroad.
Wellness tourism
It is another type of health tourism that aims to improve and balance the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life. Wellness tourists engage in preventive, proactive, and lifestyle-enhancing activities, such as fitness, healthy nutrition, relaxation, and healing. These are often offered by specialized facilities, such as spas, resorts, retreats, or holistic centers. Wellness centers are often concentrated in areas blessed with natural resources such as hot springs, dense forests or expansive coastlines.
Aesthetic tourism
It focuses on enhancing the appearance or beauty of the body or face. Aesthetic tourists seek cosmetic or plastic surgery, dentistry, dermatology, or other procedures that can improve their self-esteem, confidence, or body image. These are often elective or non-essential procedures and therefore not covered by most insurance or public health systems. Aesthetic tourism centers require highly skilled surgeons and aggressive marketing and sales teams. Certain destinations have built reputations for specialized procedures that cater to very specific patient profiles.
Who’s Who in Health Tourism: Key Players
Providers
Health centers providing services to medical tourists often establish a niche, with special focus on quality standards, patient experience, and emphasis on using cutting edge medical treatment options. Patients seeking this category of healthcare services are usually willing to pay premium prices, and as a result, the service is styled in an exclusive, VIP manner.
On the other hand, price differences can often place a health tourism destination on patients’ radars. Health centers that provide medical treatment options at lower prices often put special focus on practicality, speed and work in a package-oriented mindset. The patients catered to in this category are primary focused on pricing, and a result, the service design takes a completely different shape.
Consumers
Although people opt to pursue health tourism for a diverse many reasons, they do share some common characteristics. “Health Tourists” are willing to travel long distances, overcome language and cultural barriers, and enter a foreign environment in exchange for better health outcomes. Higher income members of society can afford the luxury of international travel and treatment in foreign countries. Furthermore, those with international insurance policies have increased access to international healthcare services. Finally, patient pools managed by state institutions are often referred abroad in case of a medical supply/demand gap.
Connectors
International patients are often assisted by healthcare providers, facilitators, and the local community in their home or destination country. These facilitators often take of the form of medical assistance or referral organizations. The driving principles of these companies resembles that of tourism agencies which connect user with provider. One could call these entities the “middle men” of international healthcare. They provide a vital connection, which facilitates the service delivery between healthcare providers and foreign patients. Medical providers are often lacking in the necessary marketing and inter-personal connections necessary to connect successfully with potential patients and health referral agencies work to fill this gap.
Where: Destinations and Origins
Popular destinations for health tourism vary depending on the type of service, cost, quality, availability, and reputation of healthcare providers. Some countries that have emerged as leaders in this field are Turkey, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, Germany and the United States. These countries have invested in developing their healthcare infrastructure, technology, standards, and regulations, as well as promoting their natural, cultural, and historical attractions. Health destinations often tend to be popular tourist destinations as well.
Although it can be difficult to categorize patients on a country basis due to the complexity of patient profiles and health burden levels, there are some basic patterns which influence the efflux of “health tourists”. Origin countries of patients vary depending on country specific disease prevalence rates, quality of healthcare in the home country, availability of health tourism destinations in the surrounding regions, government policies and last but not least; personal preference and income levels.
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