Medical tourism has become one of the fastest-growing service industries in the 21st century. The purpose of this chapter is to advance the idea that the growth of medical tourism is influenced not only by the innovation in medical technology but also by the overall innovation environment in a country. Conducting a fixed effect regression analysis, the authors find empirical evidence in support of the argument. Because of the inter-sectoral nature of the medical tourism industry, the findings imply a plethora of opportunities for all related industries to realize the full potential of the resources available for innovation in a country. The most important implication of the findings is that strengthening the innovation environment in a country is momentous for sustainable medical tourism. The findings show a way to achieve sustainable medical tourism by integrating different stakeholders through collaboration and innovation.
TopIntroduction
The medical tourism industry has become one of the fastest-growing service industries in the 21st century with the emergence of new technologies and globalization of the healthcare industry. Medical tourism typically refers to the movement of people from one country to another to receive medical services. Due to the improvements in communication technologies, people can now easily access information about medical treatments in other countries. For example, people can consult doctors and travel to get medical care whenever necessary. The global medical tourism market size was valued at US$54.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow annually at 21.1% from 2016 to 2027 (Medical Tourism Market Size, Industry Report, 2020-2027).
Although the medical tourism industry might see the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic due to border closure and other restrictions, there has also been a radical shift toward remote and more affordable healthcare services that will attenuate the effect. Technological adaptations during the pandemic have become opportune for medical tourism. While in-person services have been impacted, remote medical consultation has significantly increased during the pandemic (Chhabra et al., 2021). Scholars and practitioners have often described medical tourism as the future of health services and assessed its impact from economic, technological, and social perspectives (Darwazeh et al., 2021; Sandberg, 2017). Medical tourism is about healthcare, technology, tourism, and other related industries at the same time, and therefore, innovation in these industries is as important as innovation in medical technology for the medical tourism industry to remain sustainable. Thereby, medical tourism has significant implications for global public health and might impact the future of how and where healthcare is delivered (Ratnasari et al., 2021; Sandberg, 2017).
However, the extant literature on medical tourism either discusses the role of medical tourism in the economic development of a country or, predominantly, emphasizes that advanced medical technology is one of the main drivers behind the growth of medical tourism (Ganguli & Ebrahim, 2017; Gupta et al., 2015; Weidenfeld, 2018). Earlier studies on medical tourism are country-specific case studies based on the top medical tourism destinations. All such studies mainly explore the reasons behind the popularity of the destination countries and the contribution of medical tourism to the economic development of a country (Ebrahim & Ganguli, 2019; Gupta et al., 2015; Hopkins et al., 2010; Richards, 2018).
In the absence of common features between countries, it is difficult to generalize the findings to other countries. Although the medical tourism industry is at the crossroads of multiple related industries, earlier studies do not necessarily consider the impact of such relationships or the relationship between medical tourism and the overall innovation environment in a country. Because of the limited research on medical tourism from the perspective of collaboration, the growth of medical tourism entails new challenges and opportunities for both destination and source countries (Hall, 2011; Ormond & Mainil, 2015; Sandberg, 2017; Upadhyay, 2011).