Tourism and Travel: A Comprehensive Analysis of Trends and Impacts

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of medical tourism, examining its evolution, key drivers, and economic impacts. It discusses the role of globalization and consumerism in promoting medical travel, highlighting the cost-effectiveness and quality of healthcare services in developing nations. The analysis includes perspectives from various scholars on the intricacies and challenges within the medical tourism sector, such as resource allocation, ethical considerations, and the impact on local healthcare systems. Case studies from countries like India, Thailand, and Russia are presented to illustrate different facets of medical tourism, including the promotion of medical visas and public-private partnerships. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for effective regulation and ethical practices to ensure equitable access to healthcare services and to address the complexities arising from the commercialization of medical tourism.

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TOURISM AND TRAVEL
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Introduction
With the emergence of globalization and culture of consumerism, people developed the
idea of travelling to implement various forms of substitutes which give rise to high level of
contentment, satisfaction and healthy living (Fetscherin & Stephano, 2016). Medical tourism
occurs when patients travel internationally in order to successfully attain private-aided medical
treatment. Medical tourism is recognized as a global practice affiliated with health care
organizations, hospitals and health clinics in a wide range of destination nations who are
contesting to take care of such international patients (Ormond & Sulianti, 2017). Medical
tourism further known as health tourism is often underlined by prominent and leading health care
organizations operating in developing nations by proficiently providing supreme quality health
care services at economical costs to patients from industrialized countries (Abd Mutalib et al.,
2017). The primary attractions of health or medical tourism focus on cost-effectiveness and a
probability to benefit from tourism services of pertaining to health tourism destinations during
recovery period. The following paper highlights the areas of concern, intricacies, impacts and
factors identified by broad range of scholars engaged in the field of health tourism.
Discussion
Understanding the role of medical tourism
The article “Medical tourism in India – in whose interest?” by Swati Gola has recognized
aspects of health tourism not essentially as a recent phenomenon and had persistently attained
substantial level of prevalence since 20th century. The limited market accessibility of medical
tourism has been perceived more as a ‘novelty’. This elevating level of prominence has resulted

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medical tourism to become one of the major facets of globalization. Health tourism is considered
as one of the highly committed and rapidly emerging sectors of tourism business whereby people
travel with a significant aim of enhancing welfare and attaining high quality health care services
outside the jurisdictions of patients’ country. Furthermore, another article emphasizing on value
of travelling with health advantages provide an explicit understanding of the dynamic progress of
health tourism that has been achievable because of the significant divergence in the level of
health care as well as the expenditure of health care services in different nations. This
intensification of medical tourism has fundamentally opened avenues for several patients
towards specific procedures or health care services in their own region or receive similar kinds of
medical services abroad without any impediments and at economical prices. Furthermore, an
influx of health care tourists have been observed especially from the European region and North
America, where an augmented rate of medical technical proficiency and expertise is integrated
with equally soaring expenditures for receiving health care treatment.
However, reports reveal by Veselova, (2017) that medical services provided in UK is free
of charge operating under National Health Service but patients have to encounter considerable
level of delay in receiving effective health care services which often tend to extend till 2 years.
Thus patients exhibit greater degree of inclination in choosing medical services which can be
treated within limited span of time (Hanefeld, Smith & Noree, 2016). Furthermore, certain
medical tourism destinations are have attained prominence for offering provisions to alternative
medication and customary form of heath care services which consequentially led patients seeking
effective medical services opt for alternative medication like Ayurveda. Several health insurance
organizations along with leading corporate agencies operating in developed nations further show

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inclination towards supreme medical services for the clientele as well as employees in order to
efficiently condense the expenditure rate of treatment (Fetscherin & Stephano, 2016).
Achievements of Medical Services in Developed nations
Studies emphasizing on the increasing rate of incompetence from the end of public health
systems in well-established nations have paved way for health care services to offer highly
proficient medical treatment to the section of populace who can benefit from exceptional medical
treatment at fundamentally cost-effective prices (Veselova, 2017). Lee, Han & Lockyer further
mentioned in the article addressing the way substantial rate of Japanese tourism have been
essentially seeking to experience enhanced and effective medical tourism (Lee, Han & Lockyer,
2012). However, while Thailand sustained itself as immensely prominent destination for health
tourism, regions like Korea and Taiwan has arrived in the market of medical tourism in 2009
(Ormond & Sulianti, 2017). Furthermore, reports claim that the entire tourism sector of Asia has
been anticipated to attain around US$ 9 billion by 2014 and magnetize over 1.5 million patients
every year, whereas Thailand and Korea individually had been expected to capitulate over US $5
billion by early phase of 2012 (Abd Mutalib et al., 2017).
Similar ideas have been observed in the article published by Routledge, which reveal
substantial progress of Russian medical tourism (Veselova, 2017). However, it has been claimed
that medical tourism services operating in Russia primarily deal with dental clinics which offer
provisions to wide range of Russian expatriates (Veselova, 2017). Thus due to cost
differentiations during period of economic crisis, residents arriving from Moscow and St.
Petersburg have exhibited high inclination in visiting medical care providing institutions located
in their neighbouring regions offering treatment costs which are lower in comparison to Moscow

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and St. Petersburg (Ozturk, 2016). Furthermore, an uninterrupted arrival of women has also been
observed from countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other regions of Soviet republics who
seek Russian medical services during the last trimester of their pregnancy in order to successfully
give birth under proficient supervision and obtain reliable medical services (Fetscherin &
Stephano, 2016). These vital health care treatments are often being offered at cost-efficient
budget. Reports revealed by Moscow government revealed that resources and funds spent often
reaches an average of 5 million rubles annually for active emergency and health care treatment to
migrants (Veselova, 2017).
India’s achievement as the centre of health tourism has not been taken into regard by
scholars engaged in medical tourism. Substantial data revealed the influx of medical tourists
arriving in India for health care treatment rapidly amplified between 2005 and has been
anticipated to have higher elevation of over 590% in the following years (Gola, 2016). This
amplification has resulted due to broad range of capable medical experts, exceptional technically
equipped health care mechanisms along with well-established health-care sector, which facilitate
India to attain advantages from establishing its health care sector to international clientele base
under the regulations of GATS (Hanefeld, Smith & Noree, 2016). Wide ranging initiatives
pioneered by Indian medical tourism have been taken into utmost considerations which reveal
vital public-private alliance regulations in infrastructure introduced by the Indian government
(Kaur, 2014). These initiatives engage Indian health care sector and constitutes of certain
constricting hospital subsidiary services along with outsourcing of public medical services and
treatment.
Furthermore, other vital policy proposals tend to incorporate the diminution of tradition
duties on life-saving health care tools, tax exemption for enduring revenue funding in hospital

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projects comprising over 100 bed capacity along with the initiation of ‘medical visa’ in order to
permit the arrival of increasing rate of medical tourists (Noree, Hanefeld & Smith, 2016). It has
also been observed that the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) competently has been promoting the
terms of medical visas by further focusing on the campaign of “Incredible India” in order to
essentially persuade the section of medical tourists to successfully return after their treatment
(Ozturk, 2016). Wide array of endeavours have further been initiated by MoT that ranges from
economical support to standard health tourism service providers to encourage in international
markets through public events, engagement in travel marts and distribution of brochures and
pamphlets to enhance the prominence of Indian health-care initiatives (Lunt, Horsfall &
Hanefeld, 2016).
Areas of Intricacies related to Medical Tourism
Moghavvemi et al., (2017) stated that medical tourism being a privately operated
initiative whereby the whole model of health tourism frequently depends on the maximization of
resources. It has been observed that majority of beds and other facilities are often been utilized
by overseas patients who pay higher service care charges for same treatment. Such a consuming
behaviour tends to generate higher level of profitability and revenues to economize continually
emerging private healthcare organizations (Abd Mutalib et al., 2017). The capitalization of these
resources and funding reduces the level of opportunity for people who seek for economical
treatment charges receive high quality medical services. Health factors being a area of interest of
the State and executed by State administration tends to generate profits producing through
medical tourism sector (Hanefeld, Smith & Noree, 2016). However, high deficit of State
intervention or vital regulation mechanisms that constitute a universal set of directives purposed

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for privately owned medical throughout India, the development of medical tourism has been
overlooked.
Tax evaders have incorporated vital contributors engaged in health tourism sector namely
Apollo Hospitals whereby the deficit of accomplishment of pro-poor strategies and regulation
have not only led to the defiance of privileged health-care services to the marginalized or
deprived sections (Lunt, Horsfall & Hanefeld, 2016). This also has facilitated those corporate
health care organizations which violated the contractual responsibility in proficiently providing
complimentary health care treatment in order to persist unprincipled or immoral medical
practices (Gola, 2016).
Conclusion
Medical tourism has been attaining considerable degree of recognition and value with the
increasing arrival of people exhibiting greater level of inclination towards medical travel to seek
exceptional and high quality medical services at economical costs. Thus to conclude it can be
stated that medical tourism destinations aim to perceive these aspects as a significant opportunity
to reveal their healthcare as well as tourism investments and further attain economic
development. The paper has explicitly shed light on the way medical tourism sector has been
able to attain sufficient level of prominence by providing vital initiatives and medical services to
in the increasing influx of overseas patients. Furthermore, the paper has explored the critical
intricacies encountered by underprivileged sections due to few tax invaders involved in medical
tourism sector.

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