Medical Tourism
ATLAS Special Interest Group
Medical Tourism
Coordinators:
Kai Illing – Apollon Hochschule der Gesundheitswirtschaft, Germany
Isabella Schimitzek – Apollon Hochschule der Gesundheitswirtschaft, Germany
The national and international mobility of people who aim to do something for their health has many different facets. As far as types of companies is concerned there are different one involved such as hotels, public baths, spas, regional entities, and even clinics and rehabilitation centers. As far as consumer needs are concerned, guest and guest-patients ask for relaxation, invigoration, prevention, healing, and body-styling. The SIG will have to make up its mind of how to delimitate from rest holiday and recovery journey that does not have anything to do with those types of tourism that have a stronger link to medical issues.
Another issue is how medical products or services are paid for. Health insurance companies or private insurance companies can play a role here, but people can also act as self-payers. Some companies pay for check-ups or treatments for their executives.
The analysis of global health data shows that the demographic development is leading to new impulses in tourism. Analyses lead to the conclusion that people are becoming more mobile in order to achieve their health goals. The reasons for the “new health mobility” are manifold and comprise better prices abroad, easier access to medical procedures, better medical supply abroad, warm climate and appealing nature abroad, and, last but not least, a better staff supply (e. g. retirement and receiving care abroad in specialized retirement homes).
This paragraph leads to the point that the international mobility in search of health does definitely need destinations that supply clean nature and a welcoming local population.
We understand the interaction of many influencing factors as dynamic system of interconnectedness that is driven by many players. The SIG is forcing the analysis of many individual aspects of the above-mentioned markets in order to better understand the overall system in the tourism-health-continuum.
Annual review of activities 2024
The SIG’s plans for next year include the organization of a special track for the next ATLAS annual conference in 2025. Already in 2024, we would like to create opportunities (e. g. roundtables; informal meetings) to get acquainted with other SIG members to join our SIG “MEDICAL TOURISM – HEALTH TOURISM – WELLNESS TOURISM” and to discuss the potential of collaborative initiatives. Furthermore, everybody in the ATLAS community shall feel free to get in contact with us to establish and expand contacts also beyond formal communication channels.
The SIG will consider (but will not be limited to) the following topics:
- Terms and definitions in a market that shift between tourism, wellness and health
- International market monitoring
- Consumer behaviour analysis
- Interaction of tourism policy and health policy
- The complexity of interaction of systems of tourism and health
- Conceptualisation of medical tourism destinations
Its main objectives include:
- Advancing the conceptualization of the tourism system in the current environment through the knowledge sharing and collaborative research between academics, tourism professionals, decision-makers, and policy makers.
- Conceptualizing and operationalizing the tourism system dynamics in the context of other SIGs (e. g. Climate Change and Tourism, AI and Tourism, Space, Place and Mobilities in Tourism, Circular Economy and Tourism)
- Designing opportunities for collaborative projects, research, and funding in cooperating with ATLAS-members.
- Advancing academic outputs through webinars/seminars, workshops, conferences, and coordinating special issues in journals and edited books.
- Mentoring early career researchers (including PhD students) interested in the field, providing opportunities for learning, networking, and skill development.
Work Plan for 2024
- Launch of the SIG and enrolment of new members.
- Members meeting to discuss: (a) SIG content and defining work-packages,
- (b) SIG internal organization (roles and responsibilities).
- Inaugural SIG meeting and Special Track at the ATLAS 2025 conference.
- Organization of Webinars/Workshops on selected topics.
- Explore opportunities for SIG members collaborations (funding applications and research papers writing).
- Consulting tourist companies that want to.