Thạc Sĩ Medical Tourism and its Entrepreneurial Opportunities - A conceptual framework for entry into the in

Tourism & Hospitality Management
Master Thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION . 1
1.1 BACKGROUND . 1
1.2 MEDICAL TOURISM 2
1.2.1 MEDICAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS . 3
2 PROBLEM ANALYSIS & RESEARCH QUESTION 5
2.1 PROBLEM ANALYSIS 5
2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 6
3 METHODS. 8
3.1 DATA COLLECTION 8
3.1.1 SUBJECT DEVELOPMENT 8
3.1.2 RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT 9
3.1.3 DATA COLLECTION SOURCES 14
3.2 ANALYSIS 15
3.2.1 DATA TYPOLOGY . 15
4 MEDICAL TOURISM: MARKET DESCRIPTION . 17
4.1 PRODUCT . 18
4.2 SOCIAL ISSUES 19
4.3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK 22
4.4 CONSUMER BENEFITS . 25
4.5 TARGET MARKET . 26
4.6 BRANDING . 29
4.7 INFRASTRUCTURE 32
4.8 DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS . 35
4.8.1 OPERATORS 36
4.8.2 INTERMEDIARIES 40
4.9 COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION . 42
5 ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A LITERATURE REVIEW . 46
5.1 DEFINITIONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENTERPRISE CULTURE 47
5.2 ENTREPRENEURSHIP PERSPECTIVE 48
5.2.1 PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL: . 48

5.3 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS . 51
5.3.1 SWOTMODEL . 53
5.4 TARGET MARKET ANALYSIS . 54
5.5 COMPETITIVE STRATEGY 55
5.6 MARKET ENTRY STRATEGY 56
5.7 POSITIONING . 59
5.7.1 GENERIC STRATEGIES 61
6 ANALYSIS . 64
6.1 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS . 65
6.1.1 SOCIAL ISSUES . 66
6.1.2 LEGAL FRAMEWORK 67
6.1.3 INFRASTRUCTURE 69
6.2 BUYERS . 70
6.2.1 TARGET MARKET ANALYSIS 70
6.2.2 CONSUMER BENEFITS . 71
6.2.3 COMMUNICATION CHANNELS 72
6.3 SUBSTITUTES 73
6.3.1 ANSOFF 73
6.4 SUPPLIERS . 76
6.4.1 INFRASTRUCTURE 76
6.4.2 OPERATORS 80
6.4.3 INTERMEDIARIES 81
6.5 INDUSTRY COMPETITORS . 82
6.5.1 COMPETITIVE STRATEGY . 82
6.5.2 GENERIC STRATEGIES 83
6.5.3 BRANDING . 84
6.6 POTENTIAL ENTRANTS . 87
6.6.1 ANSOFF 88
7 RESULTS . 97
8 CONCLUSIONS 103
REFERENCE LIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 105
REFERENCE LIST 105
BIBLIOGRAPHY 109




1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
The superficial view that tourists travel solely for pleasure seems somewhat redundant given that today there many tourism typologies; sport, leisure-seeking, religion or pilgrim pursuits, environmental, business amongst many others. Thus it is widely acknowledged that there are many complex reasons why people elect to travel (Dann, 2002). It has also been pointed out that for some tourist typologies ‘travel’ offers escapism from mundane daily routine, a chance to pursue relaxation or the opportunity to encounter a new culture. In medical
tourism, “tourists” primarily seek medical treatment and afterwards the more conventional tourism experience related to leisure and relaxation in tourist places.
Today the culture of travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery has become common practice, typically with marketing and promotion in media forms that are healthrelated to or of a “well being” nature. Evidence is given by the extensive available research on the pursuit of well being within the field of health tourism, though often as an exclusive form of tourism largely because of the pricey connotations which accompany a relatively indulgent form of leisure. However the combination of surgery and tourism seems to be a relatively new type of nonexclusive
niche tourism that promises to have significant growth over the next few years. The expected increase in medical tourism is largely due to the increase in cost of medical care in more developed counties, the long waiting lists for surgery and deteriorating standards of care in many developed countries due to diminishing staff levels and increasing pressure on current health systems due to ageing populations. Another reason for the increased levels of medical tourism may be the result of a natural progression or well being pursuits within health
tourism; spa resorts, hiking trips (though these may fall in the sport tourism segment as well), yoga, meditation camps and boot camps or weight-loss health farms. Globalisation and improved communication technology (Sharpley, 2003) as externalities within the global economy that may help to develop this kind of tourism since people from countries outside the hosting country, where health tourism is pursued, can access information about health treatments abroad and even consult with doctors and experts in foreign countries by video conferencing
among many other such communication media.
Preliminary research of this subject area revealed significant material related to “health-care tourism” and “wellness tourism” both of which aren’t mutually exclusive to the scope of medical tourism. However to set delimitations for this study, we advocate that “wellness tourism” refers to spa & relaxation treatments and similarly related retreats where surgery is not involved. Whereas health tourism encompasses all treatments that enhance a state of well being, both internally and externally, from spa and relaxation treatments, cosmetic surgery to
elective surgery and essential surgery which include essential procedures such as heart transplant or hip implants to remedy an injury or treat an illness. According to Connell (2006) the term “medical tourism” involves specific medical intervention. As a result to set further delimitations health tourism is the overall governing spectrum that includes both wellness tourism and medical tourism. Simply put wellness tourism and medical tourism are both subsets of health tourism of which the latter is the focus of this study. Thus advancements within
the research of medical tourism will contribute to health tourism research intotality. Before we proceed with the medical tourism market description it is important to identify the formal definition of medical tourism used to guide the research of this study and the main destinations referred to during our research.
1.2 Medical Tourism
Almost two decades ago, Goodrich & Goodrich (1987:217) defined health-care tourism as “the attempt on the part of a tourist facility (for example a hotel) or destination (in Baden, Switzerland) to attract tourists by deliberately promoting its health-care services and facilities, in addition to its regular tourist amenities”. In Mugomba & Caballero Danell


fact in 1999 a report, on regional healthcare, released by the European Union (EU) tipped medical tourism to be a lucrative industry for Europe with the dominant market operators cited as being Switzerland and Germany and the targeted consumers; wealthy individuals from the