Medical Tourism in India

Medical tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of tourism market around the globe. Tourists today prefer travelling abroad to avail medical and wellness treatments. Medical tourism has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism segments in the both developed and emerging markets. Medical tourism combines several factors like availability of highly specialized medical treatment facilities and favourable government facilities which attract medical tourists. The sector combines creativity and innovation to offer modern wellness services to the tourists at legitimate prices to cause value creation to the latter.

Running head: MEDICAL TOURISM IN INDIA
MEDICAL TOURISM IN INDIA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction:................................................................................................................................3
2. Tourist attraction/product/idea:...................................................................................................4
Past forms of tourism:..................................................................................................................5
3. Pull factors:..................................................................................................................................7
Products:......................................................................................................................................7
Pricing:.........................................................................................................................................7
Main and additional elements:.........................................................................................................8
4. Description of the identified market:...........................................................................................9
Demographic segmentation:............................................................................................................9
Motivation:..................................................................................................................................9
Other features:.............................................................................................................................9
5. Push factors:...............................................................................................................................10
Social factors:............................................................................................................................11
Economic factors:......................................................................................................................11
Cultural factors:.........................................................................................................................12
6. Marketing strategy to promote products:...................................................................................13
7. Consideration of types of infrastructure/tourism amenities:.....................................................14
8. Conclusion:................................................................................................................................14
References:....................................................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction:
Medical tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of tourism market around the
globe. Tourists today prefer travelling abroad to avail medical and wellness treatments. Medical
tourism has emerged as one of the fastest growing tourism segments in the both developed and
emerging markets. Medical tourism combines several factors like availability of highly
specialized medical treatment facilities and favourable government facilities which attract
medical tourists. The sector combines creativity and innovation to offer modern wellness
services to the tourists at legitimate prices to cause value creation to the latter. Yashkova et al.
(2016) define the creativity as the process of creating new products which include both goods
and services. Antoncic, Antoncic and Li (2018) mention creativity as one of the driving factors
of entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurs recognize the demands of the consumers which are
either not met effectively by the existing products or not met at all. These two works can be
applied to the topic under namely, medical tourism. The residents today seek medical and
wellness services in their countries which are affordable. When the existing medical firms and
systems fail to provide the services at lower prices, the consumers prefer to travel to foreign
countries as tourists where the treatments would costs less. The countries like India have
emerged as major medical tourism destinations because they are able to provide medical and
wellness services to foreign tourists by using creative marketing mixes. The creative marketing
mixes enable these countries to charge lower prices from international tourists without
compromising on quality of treatment services. Thus, it is creativity has enabled the countries
like India to bring about expansion in their respective tourism industries to serve tourists, both
resident and foreign tourists.

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The creative product on which I would reflect in the paper would be a spa and wellness
service combining traditional Indian cottages provided with western facilities. The name of the
service would be Swasth Van. The word ‘swasth’ is a Sanskrit word which means health while
‘’van’ is a Sanskrit word which means a forest. The spa would have a setting of a forests which
trees throughout out the length and breadth of the premises. There would be modern cottages
built of with bricks but their outer walls would be given an earthlike texture. The tourists would
be book the accommodations in order to avail the spa and wellness services. The spa and
wellness would provide Ayurvedic spa and wellness treatment. The serene and peaceful
ambience surrounded by trees would enable the tourists to recuperate faster. The properties
would be located close to main metropolitan cities which would enable the tourists to reach
easily by roads after landing in these cities. The properties would be located in four locations in
India namely, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The apex management would be spa
and wellness services would be seated in Mumbai.
2. Tourist attraction/product/idea:
The creative products would be spa and wellness resorts providing Ayurvedic treatment
to tourists amidst a peaceful environment created by artificial forests which would enable faster
recovery. The name of the product would be Swasth Van which would be headquartered in
Mumbai. The spa would have its three branches of operations in Kolkata, Chennai and
Hyderabad. The spas would provide wellness and Ayurvedic treatments to patients suffering
from ailments like stress and other physical problems. The properties of the spa would have the
setting of a forest created by planting large numbers of trees. The presence of trees in large
numbers would enable reducing pollution and create a serene environment which would
encourage faster recovery of the patients. The resorts would have several accommodations

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provided with all modern facilities to enhance the comfort of the tourists. The accommodations
would have divided into three categories targeting three different income classes. The standard
cottages would have the modern facilities like air conditioners. The premium accommodations
would have in personal bar and coffee machines which the guests would be able to use as per
their convenience. The premium accommodations would target the upper-middle class
customers. The super-premium accommodations would have swimming pools attached to them
along with all the facilities of premium accommodations. This category would target only the
upper class tourists. All the properties would be provided with spa rooms where the tourists can
avail spa and wellness treatments. Indian classical music would play in the background to
enhance the feeling of mental peace and wellbeing. The properties would have yoga rooms
where the tourists would be able to perform yoga under instruction of trained yoga trainers. The
properties would also have gymnasiums and swimming pools which the tourists could avail to
enhance their fitness levels. The above services which Swasth Van would provide to the tourists
can analyzed into three different elements of attraction namely, nuclear, marker and tourists
(Leiper 1999). The nuclear elements of the tourist accommodations refer to the central services
which tourists can avail. As far as the spa and wellness under study is concerned, the facilities of
the accommodation which the resort provides to tourists. The second element, marker refers to
the information which tourists gather prior to their departure. As far as Swasth Van is concerned,
the marker can refer to the serene environment within the setting of a forests which the tourists
can enjoy. The third element namely, tourist refers to the tourists in person.
Past forms of tourism:
The analysis of the product namely, Swasth Van shows that it is linked with the past
forms of travels and addresses the travel experiences common in the past. Ormond and Sulianti

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(2017) opine that tourists have been travelling to foreign countries in order to avail wellness
services. The authors mention that tourists in the past used to travel to gain knowledge. Davison
et al. (2018) support this argument and mention that tourists have travelled in the past to take
advantage of differential pricing models of different countries to avail costly medical treatments.
For example, treatment costs in India are less compared to the treatment costs in developed
countries like the United States of America. These high costs of treatments in the developed
nations often deprive the middle class patients from availing critical treatments. That is why the
middle class patients today prefer to travelling to emerging economies like India to avail
treatments. Emerging countries like India have several advantages over their developed
counterparts which have encouraged tourists since past years. For example, India has several
chains of specialized medical institutes like Apollo and Fortis. These medical chains provide
world class treatments at affordable prices. Secondly, the country has skilled doctors who
perform critical operations with utmost precisions. Thirdly, English is widely spoken in the
country. This enables the medical tourists from western markets like the UK and the USA to
communicate easily with the medical personnel in the country (Moghavvemi et al. 2017).
Fourthly, besides offering surgeries, the medical and wellness tourism market in India provides a
range of alternative treatment methods like Ayurveda and Unani. These alternative treatment
methods have proven helpful in treating of complex diseases and psychological ailments like
stress and depression (Paul 2019). These factors have differentiated the medical tourism industry
in India from its other counterparts like Thailand and China. Moreover, the major wellness
centers in India like Chennai are served to excellent networks of rail and air transport. This
strong network of transport enables the foreign tourists reach the wellness and treatment

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locations in India with ease. These factors have placed India in a high position on the global
tourism map (Sen and Chakraborty 2015).
3. Pull factors:
Swasth Van would use pull marketing strategies to attract medical tourists both from
within India and from abroad. Choe and Ji (2019) define pull strategy as the marketing strategy
in which companies ‘pull’ the customers towards their products by making them seek the
products. The main marketing forms of pull strategies are words of mouth, media reports and
advertising. As far as Swasth Van is concerned, the main pull factors would be the superior
quality wellness and spa services which the medical tourists would be able to avail in the
premises supported by its customer centric pricing strategy.
Products:
As far as the products are concerned, the wellness centers of Swasth Van would provide
superior wellness and spa services within the premises of its resorts. Secondly, the natural
environment of the resorts resembling forests would enhance the mental peace of tourists which
would enhance their recuperation rates.
Pricing:
The pricing strategy of Swasth Vaan would contribute towards value creation of the
medical tourists. As already pointed out that the spa would provide three grades of
accommodations namely, standard, premium and super-premium. The standard grade
accommodations facilities would enable the middle class tourists to avail wellness services in
Swasth Van. The premium accommodation services would provide the medical tourists with

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additional facilities namely, personal bar and coffee machine. The target customer segments of
the premium services would the upper middle class customers. The super-premium services
would provide the guests with personal swimming pools in addition to all the services available
at the previous two grades of accommodations. The target customer segments of the third
category accommodations would be the upper class medical tourists. Thus, it is evident that the
pricing strategy of Swasth Van formed keeping in view the needs and income of the different
medical tourist would be the second pull factor.
Main and additional elements:
The main elements of the elements of Swasth Van which would enable it attract and
create value for medical tourists would be its world class wellness treatment facilities and
authentic Indian ambience. The ambience consisting of simulated forests would enable the
tourists to feel better. The natural environment of the resort would enhance the feeling of
wellness among the tourists.
The addition elements which would pull or attract tourists towards the spa and wellness
services would be the facilities like swimming pool and gymnasiums which would enhance the
feeling of wellness among the tourists. The second group of additional elements which would
enable the spa to attract tourists would be the proximity of location to metropolitan cities. It has
already been pointed out that Swasth Van would be based in Mumbai with branches in Chennai.
Kolkata and Hyderabad. This means that the medical tourists would be able to reach the resorts
by air or by road very easily. Thus, it can be pointed out that the easy access to the resort would
add to the value creation of the tourists. It can be pointed out that the proximity of the resort to
the metropolitan cities would be a pull factor which would enable the spa to attract large
population of tourists both from within India as well as abroad.

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4. Description of the identified market:
The target which Swasth Van would serve would be divided into terms of demographics,
motivation and other features like culture. The following section would delve into the
segmentation of the market of Swasth Van.
Demographic segmentation:
Swasth Van should segment its market on the basis of demographics. The three variables
which the resort would take into account would be income and age. The consideration of these
two variables can be observed in the very product offering of the accommodations. The
accommodations are divided into three categories based on income of tourists namely, standard,
premium and super premium. The standard accommodations target the middle class tourists
while the premium accommodation would target upper middle class customers. The super-
premium services would target the upper class customers. Similarly, the services which the
accommodation provides can be also be segmented on the basis of age. The gymnasium facilities
target young customers while the yoga facilities target the senior tourists.
Motivation:
Swasth Van can divide its customer segments on the basis of motivation. While some
customers visit the resort to enjoy spa services, others visit the resort to enjoy the serene
environment. Thus, it is evident that the tourists visit the resort according to the specific
motivations or interests which drive them.
Other features:
The other grounds of market segmentation which the spa considers would be culture and
personalities. Swasth Van provides facilities to medical tourists according their cultural origins

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and personalities. For example, the resort provides dishes according to the cultural preferences of
tourists like Spanish and American dishes. Similarly customers seeking authentic dishes of India
are served authentic Indian food. Thus, it is clear the product offering of Swasth Van meet the
specific needs of the tourists.
5. Push factors:
Swasth Van in order to attract more medical tourists to generate higher revenue should
use push marketing strategies. The spa should accommodate the push strategies in accordance to
the generating region target market. For example, the resort should offer discounts in its Kolkata
branch during the autumn festivals. Thus, the resort should adapt its push marketing strategies
with the cultural aspects of particular regional markets to attract more customers and generate
higher revenue.
Li et al. (2017) define tourism demand as the total number of persons who either travel or
wish to travel to use facilities in tourists set ups like tourist locations and accommodations.
Balabanis and Siamagka (2017) define origin country as the country in which services and goods
are produced. As far as tourism is concerned, the term origin country refers to the countries from
the specific groups of tourists evolve. Cerutti, Claessens and Puy (2019) define push strategies as
marketing strategies which companies use to attract attention of customers to use their products.
The push marketing strategies which companies can use to market their products consist of
activities like point of sales displays and trade show promotions.
The macroeconomic factors of the target country namely India like social factors,
economic and cultural factors encourage the medical tourists to visit the country. The following

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section would visit the three factors in brief to point out how these factors would encourage
tourist demand for the developed product namely, Swasth Van:
Social factors:
The social factors in India are favourable for attracting medical tourists from foreign
countries. The social factor in India which encourage foreign tourists to visit the country is
widespread acceptance of English as the language of communication. The educated class of the
country use English as the lingua franca which enable the foreign tourists especially from the
English speaking countries like the USA and the UK communicate with the residents easily. The
second social factor which encourage tourists from foreign countries visit India is the wide
acceptance of western culture. Western clothes are commonly worn by the people of India
especially the urban population. This enable the foreign tourists to relate to the Indian society.
These two factors make the western tourists feel comfortable in India which encourage the latter
to come to the country.
Economic factors:
The economic factors in India are largely responsible in creating tourist demand among
the overseas tourists visit the country. The first economic factor in India which encourage
international tourism is the high gross domestic product of the country. High gross domestic
product of the country means that the manufacturing sector produces high amount of goods and
services. Moreover, India has emerged as one the significant export partners of the western
markets like the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This means that India can
provide enough products to satisfy the needs of the foreign tourists. This factor is responsible for
large number of foreign tourists visiting the country. The second economic factor which
encourages visit of foreign tourists in India is a strong infrastructure. The country is linked by a

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wide network of railways and roads which facilitate easy travelling of tourists from one part of
the country to the other. The main cities of India like Mumbai and Kolkata are served by
international airports which enable the foreign tourists to travel to the country using the air
routes. The country is linked to network of bridges which enable transport of both goods and
people. Thus, it is evident from the discussion that strong transport network enable the tourists
from other countries to travel to and from India easily. This factor undoubtedly is responsible for
creating large numbers of tourists.
The third economic factor which is responsible for large tourist demand in India is strong
and stable financial condition of the country. India has several multinational financial companies
both of banking and non-banking nature. Thus, the tourists are able to avail financial services
like multicurrency fund transfer in India. This factor plays a very significant role in medical
tourism because medical treatments are expensive and often require the foreign tourists to
transfer huge amount of money from their home currencies to Indian National Rupee or INR.
The foreign tourists can easily gain access to their saving account held in their home countries to
avail expensive medical and wellness facilities like spa. As far as Swasth Van is concerned, it is
clear from the segmentation strategy of the company that it targets middle class, upper middle
class and upper class tourists. Thus, it is evident that the medical tourists in order to make
payments have to transfer funds from the own accounts to the account of the spa. It can be
pointed out that this transfer of funds would not have been possible without the strong financial
network which India offers. Thus, in other words, the strong financial conditions in India is
responsible for creating immense tourist demands from wellness facilities like Swasth Van.

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Cultural factors:
The cultural factors in India are largely responsible to creating immense foreign tourist
demand. First of all, western culture is widely accepted in the cities and English is widely
spoken. These two factors are largely responsible for encouraging the western tourists visit India.
The country has a rich heritage and tradition which attract tourists to visit the country. India is
the birthplace of wellness treatments like Ayurveda and Unani which encourage medical tourists
to visit the country to avail expensive Ayurvedic treatments in centers like Swasth Van.
6. Marketing strategy to promote products:
The marketing strategy of Swasth Van would be aligned to attract foreign medical
tourists. The messages which the firm would use to pull customers would speak about the
benefits of Ayurvedic treatments. The messages would also promote the facilities which Swasth
Van can offer and how the facilities can create value to the customers. The company should use
omnichannel marketing to market its products in the market. The marketing channel which the
company would employ to promote its wellness products would consist of press, internet and
audiovisual media like television. The company should use its official website as a strong
promotional tool. Swasth Van in order to attract medical tourists from different countries should
launch country specific websites. The websites should provide complete detail of the services
which Swasth Van can provide in both English and the language of the target country. For
example, the website which would be visible in Germany would show information in both
English and German. Similarly, the tourists should be able view the prices of the facilities in
their local currencies. The website should be provided with a foreign currency converter for the
convenience of the customers. For example, the tourists in the United States of America would
be able to view the prices of different facilities like USD and convert USD into INR, if required

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for the convenience. Thus, it is evident that the promotional strategies of Swasth Van would
enable to attract more foreign tourists.
7. Consideration of types of infrastructure/tourism amenities:
Supporting the development of Swasth Van would require support of several other types
of infrastructures. The firm would require a strong transport network to enable tourists easily
reach the facilities. Similarly, the strong financial network also plays an important role in
supporting the business of the firm. The importance of these two factors in the business
generation of Swasth Van is evident from the selection of the locations. The spa resorts would be
present in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. It can be pointed out that all these markets
are served by strong network of transport include road, water and air transport. All the four
locations are developed financially. Thus, presence in these four locations would enable Swasth
Van to generate huge business by attracting foreign tourists.
8. Conclusion:
It can be pointed out that the discussion above bring to light salient facts about medical
tourism. Swasth Van would first provide premium services to the tourists from several foreign
countries. The resort would provide the services in three variants namely, standard, premium and
super premium. The three variants would target three different income segments namely middle
class, upper middle class and upper class customers respectively. The third finding is that the
location of wellness facilities have direct impact on their revenue generation. This is clear from
the chosen locations of Swasth Van namely, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The
resort would be able to take advantage of the transport network and financial network in these
markets. Finally, it can be pointed out that the firm must promote its services strategically to
attract high population of foreign customers.

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