Motivation and Decision on Medical Tourism Service in Thailand .PPT

The 14th International Conference on Business Innovation and Technology Management


May 16-18, 2014, Phuket, Thailand

International Society for

Business Innovation &

Technology Management

Natworadee Kanittinsuttitong ([email protected])College of Innovation Management

Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, Thailand

Motivation and Decision on Medical Tourism Service in Thailand

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Research Question

Summary Results

Motivation

Theoretical Background

Theoretical Framework

Methodology and Data

Empirical Results

Discussion and Conclusion


In order to gain the competitive advantages and compete in a global market, this research is to determine the motivations and the factors that affect the decide on service of a medical tourism in Thailand ?

Medical tourism is the situation that the travelers who travel to foreign

countries to get medical service or healthcare and traveling together [1]

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The result shown that there are two different groups of medical tourist, medical focused tourist and tourism focused tourist.

1. Medical focused tourists : Come to the country with the major purpose of having necessary medical treatment, cosmetic surgery and others optimum choice of treatment such sex-transplant, then taking their time on vacation. Therefore, they focus mainly on factors associated with medical treatment and service such as cost, quality and reputation of hospital and physician.

2 Tourism focused tourists : Come for tourism and mostly having their health check, dental care and wellness treatment. This kind of tourist emphasize on those factors associated with tourism service such as attractive destination, the convenience of hotel and travel, entertainment and leisure place.

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•The medical tourism market in 2009 was approximately 35,000 million USD.

•Thailand's on the top ranking of countries that have been popular over the world

•In 2012, more than 3 million foreigners came to receive medical services in hospital and other healthcare facilities ,which generated approximately 70,000 million baht to the nation. [3]

•Not only Thailand that focus on the medical business but India, Singapore and Malaysia and many countries around the world also jump into this battle.

•Moreover, Thailand must be prepared for the AEC in 2015. with the market side over 580 million people which worth over 1-5 trillion USD

•Therefore, it is necessary to know the motivations and factors that influence customers on making decision for medical tourism service in Thailand in order to gain more competitive advantage and also continue to be leader in medical tourism of the world.

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Factors that affect the rise of tourism consists of two main factors [8]

1. Push factors : Good Economy, High Cost, Health Regulation, Long Waiting-time, Lack of Confidence.

2. Pull factors : Low Cost, Country/Physician Image & Reputation, Beautiful Landscaped, Great Care, Low-Regulation, Variety of Health Services.

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I. PUSH- PULL FACTORS IN TOURISM

Push Factors

Pull Factors

Concept of medical tourism was formed by three main theories;


• Factor Condition: beautiful landscapes, warm climate, low cost of living, politics calm, less restrictive health law, social and cultural services, kindness.

• Demand Condition : Medical need & Tourism need

• Related and supporting Industries: tour agency, hotel, airline, transportation, entertainment business, restaurant & leisure, embassy, other related business.

• Firm strategy, structure and rivalry : improvement of quality and medical standards , providing value added services , opening overseas branches, contracting business partnerships.

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II. NATIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Firm

Strategy,

Structure,Rivalry

FactorConditions

Demand Conditions

Related &

Supporting Industries


using the theory of Maslow's hierarchy of need as a main theory

(1) Basic Healthcare

: Basic medical care such as health checkups, dental care, immunization and preventive screening.

: Primarily focus on tourism and select standard health services that located in tourism area with affordable price.

(2) Medically-Necessary Treatment

: required to obtain medical treatment, such surgery

: Mainly focus on medical treatment and take a short trip nearby hospital or choose travel destinations that suitable for their recuperation.

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III. HIERARCHY OF HEALTH CARE NEEDS

Optimum Health

Health Enhancement

Medically-necessary Treatment

Basic Healthcare1

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(3) Health Enhancement

: Additional medical service to fill, to modify, or to surgery some of the body including sex-reassignment surgery.

: Mainly consider f medical services, while they will arrange the tourism to be during or after receiving medical treatment.

(4) Optimum Health

: A need to maintain in good health or to be in a better health condition such spa, massage, acupuncture, traditional medicine, detoxification, and holistic healthcare treatment.

: Primarily focus tourism and often use health care services that located in tourist areas.

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III. HIERARCHY OF HEALTH CARE NEEDS

Optimum Health

Health Enhancement

Medically-necessary Treatment

Basic Healthcare1

2

3

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Hierarchy of Health Need

Factor

Condition

Firm Strategy, Structure &Rivalry

Demand

Condition

Related & Support Industry

Medical

Focus

Tourism

Focus

•Independent Variables = Diamond model (factor condition, demand condition, related & supporting industry ,firm strategy, structure and rivalry)

•Dependent Variable = Type of Medical Tourist•Mediator Variable = Hierarchy of Health Care Needs


This study is a qualitative research using in-depth interviews as a tool to collect data.

Population : business owner, international marketing officers or other related position of healthcare providers and other related businessthat mainly focus in international market which can divided into 3 groups

1) Private hospital which receive medical license from ministry of public health under the nursing act, 1998.

2) Clinic, cosmetic surgery, dental clinic, and specialized services such as, sex reassignment

3) Wellness institution such as spa house, holistic treatment providers, massage service providers.

Sample : Those located in Bangkok, and main tourist area such Chaingmai, Pattaya, Samui Island, and Hua Hin.

Data Collection : In-depth interview by using various tools such personal meeting, telephone interview, and emailing

Research limitation

Concept limitation > this research focus only on medical tourist who come to Thailand and have both healthcare service and take a tour in our nation for a while and go back to their home country Therefore, it exclude those who are expatriate, retirement, and exchange student or officers.

Scope limitation, this research only limit in the nation of Thailand.

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The result of this study shown that motivation and decision of medical tourist depends on the major purpose ofthe journey, which can be divided into two groups

1) Medical focus tourist, who come for medical treatment as a main purpose. This group include those who arein the level of medically-necessary treatment and health-enhancement in hierarchy of healthcare needs. Thismedical tourist group will focus primarily on medical factors, including the speed of the service, reputation ofthe hospital, expert of physician and therapist, medical standards at the international level, modern medicaltechnology, a wide range of medical services, available and legal medical treatment, the privacy of theservice, excellent of care, and affordable/valuable price. Other factors that affect to the motivation anddecision of this group are distance that not too far to be an obstacle, affordable travel price, climate thatsuitability for rehabilitation, Furthermore, having additional services such as interpreters, visa extension,money exchange will help facilitate and create quicker procedure for medical treatment. Coordination withthe insurance company, home country hospital, were also key factors affecting the consideration of medicaltourism services of this group.

2) Tourism focus tourist who come for tourism as a main purpose. This group include those who are in the levelof basic healthcare and optimum health in hierarchy of healthcare needs. This medical tourist group willfocus primarily on tourism factors, including good country image, famous and beautiful landscape, suitableweather, the convenience of a hotel, the availability foodservice, a place of recreation, entertainment service,affordable cost of travel and living, no political situation, The society and culture of service and hospitality.

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According to the literature review and the interview, there are issue to be concern. (1) Although Thailand is the leader of medical tourism in the world but there are only a few medical tourism agencies in the nation. (2) There are still gaps in medical tourism cluster that need to be fill-in such as transportation, interpreter, and food service provider. (3) Connection between medical providers and tourism providers not as good as it should. Thus the opportunity was lose in many cases.

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