Factors affecting medical tourism destination selection: A Malaysian perspective

Abstract

The study aims to assess the factors for medical tourism destination selection from medical tourist's perspective and to determine the satisfaction level of medical tourists in Malaysia. Field survey was conducted with the structured questionnaire to medical tourists admitted at 11 public and private hospitals in Kuala Lumpur region during September and October, 2013. A nonprobability convenience sampling technique was used and 72 response were collected. Geography of Malaysia was found to be an important factor having direct and positive impact on patient's destinations selection and satisfaction level. Results also confirms that Malaysia is famous destination for Indonesians as a medical tourism destination. One of the apparent limitations of current research is the sample size, which is very small and also limited to hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A study with different sample size and several locations in Malaysia may provide fruitful results for the evaluation of medical tourism destination selection. Finding of the current research are very much beneficial for the health ministry, tourism ministry and practitioners to improve the service level and in attracting big number of medical tourists to Malaysia. Several countries are offering medical tourism in Asia Pacific region and attracting big number of tourist every year. This Research was conducted to find out the factors, which are very much important to attract medical tourists to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and their satisfaction level to improve the performance level in future. Different aspects are involved like organization's functions, and Malaysian circumstances related to medical tourism in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

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“…They found that the strong customer service, lower expenditure and high standards are the most significant reasons. Others studies have analysed more the variables affecting health tourism distention choice across various countries (Kumar and Hussian, 2016;Rezaee and Mohammadzadeh, 2016). Alsarayreh et al (2017), therefore, recommended to use modern technological ways in marketing Jordanian HSOs in a foreign country and to reassess the price with other competitive counties and to use more clear information to promote Jordan as a convenient medical tourism destination.…”

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“…Security can be viewed as an indispensable condition for travel tourism, especially in this era of global tourism (Kovari & Zimanyi, 2011). Reinforcing security in a tourist location will likely have the effect of providing a low perception of risk by tourists in a tourist location (Kumar & Hussian, 2016). Though, expectations of tourists regarding a security location also influence their evaluations of risk.…”

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“…Several studies have revealed that individuals seeking treatments overseas have had unsatisfactory experiences in health services provided by the city's medical staff, especially for internal, cardiac, and obstetrics and gynecology (Ob-Gyn) diseases [4], [5], [6], [7]. This is an indicator of the low quality of health services in Medan City [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13].…”