Abstract
Medical tourism has become an investment focus for many Asian countries. For example, India, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Malaysia have governmental projects to foster this emerging industry, and successfully attract millions of medical tourists each year. Medical tourism consists of diverse industries that can provide abundant opportunities of new businesses. Currently Taiwan is trying to catch up in this trend by making national development policies, setting up institutions, modifying laws and regulations, and encouraging investment of private sector. The purpose of this study is to analyze the status quo of international medical tourism in Taiwan, and identify several opportunities for small businesses to catch and to participate in forming a solid medical tourism industry for Taiwan.
Highlights
Medical tourism has materialized from a broader concept of health tourism as one’s organized travel outside their local environment for the maintenance, enhancement, or restoration of one’s well-being in mind and body
Medical tourism is partly resulted from globalization of healthcare and tourism itself constituting huge economic potential (Bookman & Bookman, 2007)
Medical or health tourism has become one of the fastest growing sectors that many countries are embracing for planning their economic expansion because it drives the development of a high-value and technology oriented service industry
Summary
Medical tourism has materialized from a broader concept of health tourism as one’s organized travel outside their local environment for the maintenance, enhancement, or restoration of one’s well-being in mind and body. In medical tourism the travelers seek medical intervention such as cosmetic enhancements, dental treatments, or major or minor required surgery. Medical travelers are looking for specialty treatments, privacy, expedited medical attention, or, frequently, lower costs than available at home country (Woodman, 2008). The market drivers of medical tourism are cost savings, comparable or better quality, and quicker access to the care (Keckley, 2008). Medical or health tourism has become one of the fastest growing sectors that many countries are embracing for planning their economic expansion because it drives the development of a high-value and technology oriented service industry. The growth of medical tourism has been reportedly high for each year recently
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