Medical tourism in Korea – recent phenomena, emerging markets, potential threats, and challenge factors: a review

Eom, Taeyeon; Yu, Jongsik; Han, Heesup

doi:10.1080/10941665.2019.1610005

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The Korean government has strict regulations over the hospitals to ensure optimum medical services. The 5-years survival rate of cancer patients in Korea is the highest compared to the rate in other advanced countries such as the United States, Canada, and Japan [9]. In addition, Korea has a competitive physical environment, such as the number of beds per population and the number of CTs and MRIs held at the level of advanced countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the Modified Health Belief Model (HBM) to Korean Medical Tourism

Ban

Kim

2020

IJERPH

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The purpose of this study is to investigate how foreigners’ health beliefs influence their visiting intentions to Korean medical tourism. This study used an online survey engine (docs.google.com/forms) to collect data from foreigners who are from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Mongolia, who are potential Korean medical tourists. Out of 213 questionnaires collected, 200 questionnaires (93.9%) were used for the statistical analysis. The Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that six dimensions, “Experience”, “Susceptibility”, “Severity”, “Barrier”, “Benefit”, and “Visiting Intention”, had construct validity; Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was tested for item reliability. It is expected that four variables in the health belief model (HBM) that are determined by objective and logical thinking processes will affect the choice of Korean medical tourism. The results showed that Susceptibility, Severity, Barrier, and Benefit had significant effects on Visiting Intention and was a valid measurement to determine “Visiting Intention”.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the Modified Health Belief Model (HBM) to Korean Medical Tourism

Ban

Kim

2020

IJERPH

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“…It was found that people would like to conduct cross border travels for lower prices, easier accessibility or better quality in medical care [ 6 , 29 , 30 ]. Eom, Yu and Han (2019) based on 729 papers about medical tourism in Korea found that the growth of the emerging markets, the dominated medical competitiveness, and the legitimate price in Korean clinics would help to contribute to the growth of international medical tourists to Korea [ 31 ]. Several studies also found the patient-centered factors, such as race, demographics, socioeconomic status, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rural Population Aging and the Hospital Utilization in Cities: The Rise of Medical Tourism in China

Peng

Zhang³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The disparity of rural and urban hospital utilization has aroused much concern. With the improvement of their living standards, patients in rural areas have an emerging need for traveling across borders for better medical treatment in China. This paper reveals the medical tourism of rural residents towards urban hospitals driven by hospital needs and points out that such disparities may be caused by medical tourism. The ratio of people aged 65 and above in total rural populations was used to identify the potential target customers for medical tourism. Based on rural and urban datasets ranging from 2007–2017 on the provincial level, this paper presents a mobile treatment model and market concentration model with an ecological foundation. The feasible generalized least squared approach was used in the estimation of the fixed-effect regressions. The study found that there was a positive and significant relationship between rural old-age ratios and urban inpatient visits from different income groups. On average, a one percent rise in rural old-age ratio would increase the inpatient visits of urban hospitals by 138 thousand persons. There was also a positive and significant relationship between the rural old-age ratio and the market concentration of urban inpatient visits. It was found that the rural old-age ratio significantly influenced the market concentration of urban inpatient visits in the middle-high income regions. The research showed that each income group from the rural aged population had participated in medical tourism, traveled to urbanized regions and made inpatient visits to urbanized medical facilities. It was also indicated that the rural aged population, especially from the middle-high income groups had a positive and significant influence on the market concentration of urban inpatient visits in the province.

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“…The global medical tourism market was valued at US$36.9 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach US$179.6 billion by 2026 (Grand View Research, 2019). The growth of this category of tourism is expected to continue because of the increasing interest in health, the rise in the elderly population, and the growth of low‐cost airfares (Dalen & Alpert, 2019; Eom, Yu, & Han, 2019). Medical tourism has a few characteristics that distinguish it from other types of tourism, however, medical tourists are especially concerned about receiving trustworthy information on the potential risks involved in medical procedures (Abubakar & Ilkan, 2016; Connell, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between the motivation of medical tourists and the quality of medical services

Lee

Lim

Kim

2020

Journal of Tourism Research

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This study aims to: (a) identify the motivation to travel for medical reasons and the quality of the medical services received; and (b) examine the relationship between the quality of medical services and the attitudes held by tourists about these. It fills the gap in the literature by contributing to our knowledge of medical tourists' behavior. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed at 25 hospitals and travel agencies within Korea. The results deliver insightful messages in the fields of travel behavior and motivation in the medical tourism industry, and for health marketers and planners of medical tourism services.

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Medical tourism in Korea – recent phenomena, emerging markets, potential threats, and challenge factors: a review

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

Applying the Modified Health Belief Model (HBM) to Korean Medical Tourism

Applying the Modified Health Belief Model (HBM) to Korean Medical Tourism

Rural Population Aging and the Hospital Utilization in Cities: The Rise of Medical Tourism in China

Relationships between the motivation of medical tourists and the quality of medical services

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