Medical tourism market trends - an exploratory research

Medical tourism is a modern concept, but not a new tourism practice. Even there is still no international consent on the definitions and measurement of this trend, its importance in the development of a tourism destination started to be taken into consideration. In accordance with tourism segment classification depending on journey reasons recommended by World Tourism Organization, one of the main groups is for “medical treatment/health”. Being part of health tourism, medical tourism is often called medical travel because it includes the act of travelling to different countries for medical reasons. An increasing significant element in medical service trade is patient circulation at cross-border level with a view to obtaining necessary health services; this circulation generated a new phenomenon, namely medical tourism. Studying the scientific literature we find new medical tourism trends in connection with globalization and liberalization. The countries that decided to promote this niche tourism are aware of the huge economic benefits brought by this. Analyzing published data by tourism medical organizations associated to indicators of economic development, we find two aspects: the success of a medical tourism destination is influenced by the economical level of the receiving countries, but, at the same time, it is also a growth factor for developing economies if it is included in their national strategy. We intend to find the answer of several questions: trends in medical tourism development are involving only medical service trade, or a combination of specific activities of many sectors? Is the medical tourism acting in favor of developing economies? This study aims to notice the development trends of the medical tourism based on the published figures and on the experience of major destinations and to highlight the importance of the medical tourism for the developing economies.