Why medical tourists must go to Malaysia!

Abstract

Medical tourism industry in Malaysia is booming and has been highlighted as a major catalyst for economic development. This study attempts to examine the determinants that affect the foreign patients' repurchase intention to obtain medical treatment in Malaysia. The determinants include hospital and staff, country factor, combination tourism and health services, and cost saving. Self-administered questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection of the study. Data were collected from 117 foreign patients in several private hospitals located at Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bharu using purposive sampling technique. Multiple regressions were used to test the four hypotheses. Two out of the four hypotheses were found to be significantly and related to repurchase intention for medical treatment in Malaysia. Cost saving was found to be the most important factor that affects the foreign patients' intention to revisit Malaysia as their medical destination, followed by the factor of hospital and staff. The findings of the study could enable policy makers to further strengthen Malaysia as the world's top health tourism destination due to the affordable and high quality medical treatment.