Hospitality and Destination Marketing\u27s Role in Medical Tourism: A Call for Research

Like business travel, where the primary focus is on business and travel is the simply the conduit by which it is performed, medical tourism is a growing trend in which individuals journey to foreign countries primarily to secure specific medical procedures or health benefits. The medical tourist is a newly defined segment of the travel industry, and while still small in numbers, is growing rapidly. This paper seeks to identify research questions related to the hospitality elements that contribute to the medical tourism experience. The answers to these may aid hoteliers, tourism operations, and visitor bureaus better understand, service and market to the medical traveller. To facilitate the research, six broad categories of medical tourists are identified and four components by which each category may be evaluated are suggested. For each of the components that contribute to the medical travelers\u27 experience, potential research areas are proposed to study this growing phenomenon from a hospitality and tourism perspective