An Analysis of Push and Pull Motivators Investigated in Medical Tourism Research Published From 2000 to 2016

Abstract

Medical tourism is growing in many parts of the world. As such, it should not be surprising that there is a growing body of literature focusing on the nature of scope of this tourism sector. One subset of this literature involves the motivations that tourists have to travel outside their home country for medical care. To develop a better understanding of these motivations, this study investigates the motivators most commonly used in medical tourism research and classifies them with regard to whether they are push or pull motivators. The results reveal that some of the most commonly used pull motivators include lower medical costs, service quality, international accreditation of the medical facilities, and shorter waiting times, while the least commonly used include reputation of the medical practitioners and tourists' social and cultural familiarities with the destinations. With regard to push motivators, the most commonly used are recommendations from friends, doctors, and family, inadequate insurance coverage, and desire for privacy and confidentiality of treatments. The least commonly used are lack of treatment options and distrust in home-country healthcare systems. The study concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications of these results and provides recommendations for further research in the areas of medical tourism.

Predictors of Satisfaction for American Aesthetic Tourism at the Mexican Border

“…On the other hand, quality service is an important determinant in this process, which include quality of preoperative information (Lazar & Deneuve, 2013), quality of care (Fetscherin & Stephano, 2016), service swiftness (Alsarayreh et al, 2017;Footman et al, 2014, Han & Hyun, 2015John & Larke, 2016;Rao & Choudhury, 2017); safety, guarantee and track records (Pollard, 2012).…”

“…In the same vein, doctor-patient relationship is a relevant aspect (Lazar & Deneuve, 2013), and covers aspects such as: surgeons' better understandings of patients' wishes (Footman et al, 2014), professionalism and performance of practitioners (Alsarayreh et al, 2017), medical professionalism exhibited by doctors, surgeons, medical technicians, and quality care competence (Rao & Choudhury, 2017). Additionally, the professional reputations of doctors and surgeons (Fetscherin & Stephano, 2016) and medical professional's reputation in the destination are also considered as important factors (John & Larke, 2016).…”

“…Due to this situation, Guiry and Vequist (2014) and John and Larke (2016) affirmed that destination image is rarely considered in health tourism and attributes of the destination are factors that are poorly or not frequently analyzed. However, when someone decides to travel abroad to perform an aesthetic procedure, it will generate his/her perception of that destination, whether real or imagined.…”

“…Surgeon and medical staff language proficiency to communicate with patients in their own language was a determining factor as a component of cultural proximity (Bolis, 2001;Pollard, 2012;Lee & Kim, 2015;Livingston, 2015;Fetscherin & Stefano, 2016;John and Larke, 2016). Alsarayreh et al (2017) and Rao and Choudhury (2017) concluded that multiculturalism (including the language) has a positive impact on tourism patients´ satisfaction.…”

“…In this sense, it is necessary to determine which motivators are the most/least important to medical tourists. The analysis need to identify the important factors for aesthetic tourism and then analyze the ability (and/or willingness) of medical suppliers to meet the needs and satisfy medical tourists (John & Larke, 2016).…”