Asian medical marketing,a review of factors affecting Asian medical tourism development

Recently, medical tourism has been considered as a profitable economic sector in developing countries. In this study, we have reviewed articles from 2000 to 2017 on medical tourism marketing in Asian countries. We have found that perceived service quality and satisfaction are the most important factors to attract medical tourists. Moreover, a lack of factors like coordination among medical market stakeholders, medical services quality, insurance coverage, and effective laws are the major barriers to medical travel cited in studies. The results suggest that more specific models should be presented for Asian medical marketing, especially in niche markets of this industry.     

Competitiveness attributes of a medical tourism destination: The case of South Korea with importance-performance analysis

This study aims to explore the importance and performance of medical tourism destination competitiveness (TDC). The aims were achieved by collecting empirical data on the perceptions of stakeholders in the medical tourism industry in South Korea. Results from the importance–performance analysis (IPA) revealed that medical TDC is primarily influenced by medical treatments and services, destination attributes, and tourism-specific factors. This study not only enhances tourism literature, but also contributes significantly to the existing literature on competitiveness. The study provides useful marketing insights for medical tourism suppliers in South Korea and countries in similar situations with the relevant industry.     

Supplementary Services as a Differentiation Strategy

Abstract

Although some studies have been done on supplementary services in the service industry, very little has been explicitly done in the travel and tourism industry. This paper focuses on adding value to core services in the travel and tourism industry, which Lovelock (1996) referred to as “supplementary services.” Supplementary services can be used as differentiation points in a highly competitive industry such as tourism. Some researchers have developed models in an effort to demonstrate how supplementary services can enhance the core services. Shostack (1977) and Lovelock (1996) have developed models specifically designed for the service industry. This research is based on Lovelock's (1996) “Flower of Service” model, focussing on the “Hospitality: Taking Care of the Customer” cluster. This paper contends that supplementary services add value to core services, which gives firms competitive advantage over their competition. In the dynamic and challenging environment of the travel and tourism industry, operators need to differentiate themselves in order to be successful and continue to offer superior performance. One of the strategies to differentiate from the competition is to enhance the core services with supplementary services. A major Midwestern City was selected to test Lovelock's model. Two conventions held in mid-February were chosen for this study. Attendees of the first convention were provided specially trained greeters at selected key locations. The second convention that was held the following week did not have any greeters. Attendees of both the conventions were asked to complete a one page pre-tested questionnaire. They were to rate the host-city on several criteria including overall satisfaction, meeting their expectations, and satisfaction with the hospitality and non-hospitality services. Obtained findings suggest that attendees who were exposed to greeters rated the host-city more favorably in overall impression, and quality of hospitality services, and non-hospitality services, while the convention attendees that were not exposed rated the host-city less favorably. Based on the results from this study, firms in the travel and tourism industry, especially the convention centers, may want to consider providing their customers with supplementary services such as greeters as a differentiation strategy.     

Leveraging human-robot interaction in hospitality services: Incorporating the role of perceived value,empathy, and information sharing into visitors’ intentions to use social robots

Social robots have become pervasive in the tourism and hospitality service environments. The empirical understanding of the drivers of visitors' intentions to use robots in such services has become an urgent necessity for their sustainable deployment. Certainly, using social androids within hospitality services requires organisations' attentive commitment to value creation and fulfilling service quality expectations. In this paper, via structural equation modelling (SEM) and semi-structured interviews with managers, we conceptualise and empirically test visitors' intentions to use social robots in hospitality services. With data collected in Singapore's hospitality settings, we found visitors' intentions to use social robots stem from the effects of technology acceptance variables, service quality dimensions leading to perceived value, and two further dimensions from human robot interaction (HRI): empathy and information sharing. Analysis of these dimensions' importance provides a deeper understanding of novel opportunities managers may take advantage of to position social robot-delivered services in tourism and hospitality strategies.     

Chinese medical tourists – Their perceptions of Taiwan

This study explores the motivations and perceptions of Chinese medical tourists visiting Taiwan regarding the quality of tourism packages and the medical services consumed. Knowing the factors that motivate medical tourists and their quality demands for tourism operators and medical institutions is important for medical tourism planners to develop and organize services that serve their customers. Particularly, findings can help tourism operators plan customized itineraries and healthcare services, including software and hardware facilities, for Chinese tourists.     

Attitudes of Malaysian Tourism and Hospitality Students' towards a Career in the Industry

This study explored Malaysian undergraduate tourism and hospitality students' views of the industry as a career choice. Four hundred and twenty-nine tourism and hospitality students, from three Malaysian institutions completed a questionnaire rating the importance of 20 factors in influencing their choice of career, and then the extent to which they believed tourism and hospitality as a career offers these factors. All of the 20 factors tested have been identified as being significantly different. From the results, it is clear that students generally do not believe that a career in tourism and hospitality will offer them the factors that they find important.     

Medical tourism development in Hong Kong: An assessment of the barriers

The aim of this study is to determine the factors influencing the development of medical tourism in Hong Kong. A qualitative research method was adopted to collect data from representatives of private and public hospitals, government bodies, and medical institutions. The results reveal that policies and regulations, government support, costs, capacity problems, and the healthcare needs of the local community are the main barriers to the development of such tourism. Several strategies for lifting these barriers are suggested, such as new promotional activity policies, government action to encourage investment in the medical tourism market, and cooperative efforts by the hospitality sector and medical institutions to develop medical tourism products.     

Rural tourism quality of services: fundamental contributive factors from tourists’ perceptions

Despite the importance of quality of services in the rural tourism sector, it is somewhat surprising that little study has been done to delve into the fundamental contributive factors that contribute to quality of services from the tourists’ perceptions. This is the first known study undertaken with a view to understand the fundamental contributive factors (i.e. climate change, carrying capacity, relaxation environment, and community support) from the environmental perspectives that link with quality of services in rural tourism destinations. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the tourists who visited four study sites from Borneo Heights, Sarawak, and 215 were returned and used for analysis. To assess the developed model, SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) is applied based on path modelling and then bootstrapping. Interestingly, the findings revealed that tourists are more concerned about the changing of climate and relaxation environment at the destination. They also agreed that community support plays a significant role in the development of quality of services in the rural tourism. This study further discussed on the implications of the findings, limitations, and directions for future research.     

The interface between hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship,integration and well-being: A study of refugee entrepreneurs

Previous hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship research has emphasized the economic and financial outcomes of entrepreneurship whilst paying less attention to social outcomes. Specifically, minimal academic attention, both in mainstream entrepreneurship research and hospitality and tourism scholarship, has been paid to entrepreneurship as a means to facilitate the integration of refugees and enhance their well-being. To address this gap, this study aims to showcase how entrepreneurial activities in the hospitality and tourism industry contribute to the integration and subjective well-being of entrepreneurs. Drawing on data collected through 38 semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey and the UK, the findings reveal that several factors influence the contribution of entrepreneurial activities to the integration of entrepreneurs and their families within the host society. Entrepreneurial activities also appear to have positive spillover effects on subjective well-being. This paper offers new insights into the social outcomes of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship by conceptualizing and empirically supporting the relationship between hospitality entrepreneurship, integration and well-being.     

Undergraduates’ perceptions of tourism and hospitality as a career choice

This study explored undergraduate tourism and hospitality student's views of the industry as a career choice. Three hundred and seventy-nine tourism and hospitality students, from eight Australian institutions, completed a questionnaire rating the importance of 20 factors in influencing their choice of career, and then the extent to which they believed tourism and hospitality, as a career, offers these factors. A number of factors have been identified as being significantly different. From the results it is clear that students generally do not believe that a career in tourism and hospitality will offer them the factors that they find important.     

The Effects of Local Hospitality,Commercial Hospitality and Experience Quality on Behavioral Intention in Cultural Heritage Tourism

The main aim of this study is to examine the influence of the two domains of hospitality—local hospitality and commercial hospitality—on behavioral intention in the cultural heritage tourism context. This study anticipated that the above relationships were mediated by the tourism experience quality. A total of 500 foreign tourists visiting the Malaysia’s first World Heritage City, Malacca City were surveyed using structured questionnaire. The results revealed that both local and commercial hospitality have positive relationships with experience quality, and experience quality fully mediated the relationships between each of the two domains of hospitality and behavioral intention.     

The effectiveness of tryvertising in hotels

Advertising has been a common practice to promote products and services in the tourism and hospitality industry. Although ample research has investigated customers’ perceptions of and reactions to advertising visuals, direct experience advertising strategies, such as tryvertising have been ignored. As an emerging direct experience approach, tryvertising has been increasingly used in tourism and hospitality businesses especially in hotels. This study explores the effectiveness of tryvertising practices on customer purchase behaviors in hotel settings. Two real data sets that combine 6858 records of customers’ hotel stays and guestroom products purchase transactions were obtained from a hotel management company that uses tryvertising strategies in China. The results from a Heckit model analysis determine the potential factors that affect hotel guests’ likelihood to buy and the amount of money spent on products promoted through tryvertising. This study fills this void in the current literature that focuses on traditional mass advertisements and behavioral intentions rather than actual purchase behaviors. It contributes to the literature with empirical evidence of the impact of tryvertising strategies on consumer behaviors in a hotel context. Managerial implications are suggested for practitioners to customize their tryvertising strategies.     

Predicting Muslim medical tourists' satisfaction with Malaysian Islamic friendly hospitals

This paper examines the factors affecting the Muslim medical tourists' satisfaction, and the role of their attitudes in shaping their clinical experience based on the expectation-disconfirmation paradigm. Data from a survey of 243 Muslim medical tourists who had received treatment from Malaysian Islamic friendly hospitals were analysed using the partial least squares technique. The findings provide evidence that Muslim medical tourists' satisfaction is dependent on the doctors' and hospitals' roles; whilst, the nurse's halal practice is not associated with it. The study also demonstrates that Muslim medical tourists' attitudes only play a mediator role between the hospital's halal practice and Muslim medical tourists' satisfaction. The research result provides useful information in understanding the critical halal practices and, more particularly, aims at helping Islamic hospitals offer quality healthcare services that suit the Muslim medical tourists' needs and, consequently, attracts the Islamic medical tourists.     

The influence of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship factors in Egypt

The purpose of this article is to study the effect of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship factors, and determine which factors are the most important for the alumni to become entrepreneurs. A questionnaire had been developed and distributed online using Google Forms. Data were collected from 314 hospitality alumni. All the hypotheses have been supported, proving that the investigated demographic characteristics have a significant effect on entrepreneurship factors, particularly motivation, innovation and personal skills. The study’s sample was limited to alumni of faculties of tourism and hotels in governmental universities only. Policy-makers implication, practical implication, and social implication are discussed based on the results of this study. This is one of the first studies in Egypt to study the effect of demographic characteristics of hospitality alumni on entrepreneurship. Moreover, it provides significant findings that can enhance the overall status of entrepreneurship in Egypt’s hospitality industry.     

Medical travellers’ perspectives in selecting in-patient services at selected private hospitals in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government has clear plans to develop medical tourism as an industry. Availability of high-quality medical professionals and accredited hospitals has encouraged medical travellers to come to Sri Lanka and to expand the medical tourism industry in the country. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe medical travellers’ perspectives in seeking in-patient services at selected four private hospitals in Sri Lanka. Foreign national in-patients (n?=?252) were interviewed using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The response rate was 93.25%. The majority (68.1%) were Maldivians followed by Indians (20.4%) and 51.1% sought surgical care. Availability of high-quality medical professionals (94.2%) and accredited hospitals (81.3%), easy visa (90.2%) were top reasons to select Sri Lanka. Medical travellers faced difficulties in communication (37.4%), transport (31.9%), accommodation (57%) and finding quality food (41.7%). The study recommends improvement of infrastructure and support services for medical travellers and that private hospitals obtain international accreditation to improve medical tourism potentials.     

Generic dimensionality of hospitality in the hotel industry: A host–guest relationship perspective

The main objectives of this study are to identify the generic facets of hospitality for hotel services irrespective of their star rating, as well as to determine the impact of generic dimensionality on guest satisfaction. The responses of 305 local and foreign hotel guests in a questionnaire survey were analysed using a Structural Equation Modelling technique. The generic facets of hotel hospitality were identified as personalisation, comfort, and warm welcoming. Of the three, only personalisation and warm welcoming contributed significantly to predicting guest satisfaction. This study is aimed at adding to the body of related literature by sharing new insights on how the generic dimensionality of hospitality in its entirety differs from that of upscale hotel hospitality.     

Americans' intention to visit Cuba as a medical tourism destination: A destination and country image perspective

This study focuses on Americans' perceptions of and intentional behaviors toward Cuba as a medical tourism destination. Using a survey-based quantitative method, the study examined the effects of Cuba's country image and destination image as well as the perceived cost and quality of its medical tourism services on intention to visit Cuba. The results showed that country image and perceived quality of medical tourism services had the greatest positive influence on Americans' intention to travel to Cuba for medical purposes. The study also supported the positive effect of destination image and the negative effect of perceived costs of medical tourism services on intention to visit Cuba. Lastly, the study findings revealed that the better the country and destination image of Cuba, the lower the perceived cost and the higher the perceived quality of its medical tourism services would be.     

The main paths of medical tourism: From transplantation to beautification

Medical tourism, combining the very polarized purposes of pleasurable travel and potentially stressful health care services, is an emergent and growing business worldwide. Medical tourism patients are willing to travel abroad to seek better quality, lower cost, domestically unavailable, no wait-time destinations for non-emergency medical care. There are numerous related studies in the academic literature that are substantiated with multidisciplinary and diverse backgrounds. This study uses the main path analysis, a unique quantitative and citation-based approach, to analyze the significant development trajectories, important literature, and recent active research areas in medical tourism. We find that there are two distinctive development paths: one path focuses more on the evolution of medical tourism, the motivation factors, marketing strategies, and economic analysis; the other path emphasizes organ transplant and related issues. These two paths eventually merge to a common node in the citation network, which foretells transplantation to beautification as the future research direction trend.     

Connecting with prospective medical tourists online: A cross-sectional analysis of private hospital websites promoting medical tourism in India,Malaysia and Thailand

Websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism are important marketing channels for showcasing and promoting destinations' medical facilities and their array of staff expertise, services, treatments and equipment to domestic and foreign patient-consumers alike. This study examines the websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism in three competing Asian countries (India, Malaysia and Thailand) in order to look at how these hospitals present themselves online and seek to appeal to the perceived needs of (prospective) medical tourists. The content and format of 51 hospitals are analyzed across five dimensions: hospital information and facilities, admission and medical services, interactive online services, external activities, and technical items. Results show differences between Indian, Malaysian and Thai hospital websites, pointing to the need for hospital managers to improve their hospitals’ online presence and interactivity.     

A cross-cultural study of perceptions of medical tourism among Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists in Korea

The purpose of this study is to observe factors related to perceptions of and possible participation in medical tourism by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean visitors to Jeju Island in Korea. It aims to identify cultural differences among them, and how those differences affect their pursuit of medical tourism in the future. The research results illustrate that significant differences exist in how Chinese, Japanese and Korean visitors view factors of choice, discomfort and preferred product items. The study establishes four factor groups regarding medical tourism with exploratory factor analysis. Based on these findings, differences of participation intention and behaviors among the three groups are explained. From this, the study describes distinct characteristics of medical tourism among the three cultural groups. The differences among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tourists with regard to the selection of destination, inconveniences, and preferred products were found to be all significant. Korean tourists placed most significance on selection factors, followed by Chinese tourists, and, lastly, the Japanese. On the other hand, inconveniences related to medical and care services, stay and cost, and information and insurance elements were most strongly associated with Japanese tourists. This may be a reflection of a possible tendency of Japanese tourists to value safety and cost effectiveness. For Chinese tourists, the importance of stay and cost was equally high as those of their Japanese counterparts, which is indicative of Chinese tourists’ cost sensitivity. Light treatments (minor surgery) were preferred by Chinese tourists, while more significant treatments (major surgery) were preferred by Japanese tourists. In terms of aesthetic and healthcare services, Chinese tourists showed the most interest, while Japanese tourists placed emphasis on rehabilitation (lifestyle-related), which may reflect the Korean Wave’s influence in certain Chinese market segments, leading to an increased demand for cosmetic or plastic surgery.