A conceptual model of medical tourism destination attractiveness

• Main Authors: Norhaslin, A.H., Hemdi, M.A.
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: G Geography (General)
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/13338/1/55.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/13338/; http://www.thic-uum.com/

Medical tourism during this edge is not a new idea.It has entered the spotlight at most of the major countries around the world, particularly in Asia and not forgetting in Malaysia that is quickly developing.Medical tourism also known as medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare is the practice of travelling abroad to obtain healthcare services.Prior to this, medical tourism destination countries are competing each other in attracting medical tourist attention and, nevertheless, need to pursue a medical tourism strategy by understanding the concept of 'destination attractiveness'.Even though attractiveness of medical tourism destinations is a topic of great interest to researchers in understanding the ability of destinations to attract tourists, however, there is scarce information on the combined attributes of touristic and healthcare attractions that could explain the attractiveness of medical tourism destinations.This paper offers an in-depth literature review about the attractiveness factors that influence medical tourist to experience medical tourism. Secondary data as literature reviews will be adopted to identify the attributes that are attractive for medical tourists to go for medical tourism since destination attractiveness is what defines the tourist choice in medical tourism.