Consumer Decision Components for Medical Tourism: A Stakeholder Approach

In this paper we discuss the demand triggers and the components of consumer decision making to undertake medical tourism i.e. travel to a foreign destination for the purpose of availing medical treatment and engaging in a vacation experience together. We develop a model that describes the macro facilitating factors, the pre-decision propensities, and the role of the different entities involved in the tourism experience that impact the decision from a stakeholder perspective. Our conceptual model provides several propositions for empirical testing as well as directions for future research on medical tourism, a rich context for tourism scholars