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The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.

A Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with a mixed-method approach is applied to analyze data collected from patients and substantiate it with medical tour operators in India to gain managerial insights on the choice-making patterns of the patients.

India is a preferred emerging market location due to the low cost and high medical staff quality. India offers value for money, whereas Singapore and Thailand are preferred destinations for quality and technology.

The study will facilitate the emerging markets' governments, hospitals and medical tourists to understand the importance of various determinants responsible for availing medical treatment outside their country.

The study recommends that cost and quality care are the patients' prime focus; government policies must provide clear guidelines on what the hospitals and country environment can offer and accordingly align the marketing strategies.

This study is the first attempt to rank various factors affecting medical tourism using the FAHP approach.

This study aims to explore the consumer perceptions of cognition and intention to visit pilot zone of international medical tourism as emerging, developed medical tourism destinations.

Using a survey-based quantitative method, based on a survey of 439 tourists who have cross-border travel experience, the partial least squares approach was performed to test the hypotheses.

The results show that internal factors had a stronger influence on destination image compared to external factors. Among different factors, preferential policies had the greatest impact on intention to visit. Perceived quality had a stronger effect on intention to visit than preference. Geographical distance had a varied effect, with those furthest away in Northeast China showing greater intention to visit compared to closer regions.

This study explores the impact of multidimensional destination perception on medical tourists’ behavioural intention in emerging destinations by integrating the push-pull theory and theory of planned behaviour and tests how geographical distance affects intention to visit emerging destinations. Using China international medical tourism pilot area as a typical case of medical tourism emerging destinations for empirical analysis. This research offers guidance for branding and marketing strategies, contributes to a deeper understanding of medical tourists’ destination choices, enriches the theoretical explanation of emerging destination choice in medical tourism and provides valuable insights for destination recovery.

This article aims to know the direction of current research based on the previous research in the last ten years (2012–2021).

Text mining was integrated with a network and content analysis as part of the mix methodological approach. The scientific articles, on the other hand, were assembled on Litmaps through web scraping. This process selected 86 articles about medical tourism published between 2012 and 2021. This study employed AntConc, RStudio and Gephi tools for data analysis and visualization.

A total of 138 articles were identified through Litmaps using web scraping and 86 studies met the criteria. The trend of medical tourism research is a positive sign for tourism and health industries; this is the beginning to recognize the importance of elaborating on these two topics. Several researchers have frequently studied issues of destination, hospital, development, quality, stakeholders, surgery, service, economics and policy. Policymakers must establish a medical tourism ecosystem to accommodate all stakeholders in this industry. This study also recommends focusing on supply and institution for medical tourism future research.

This literature review presents research trends on medical tourism in 2012–2021 based solely on articles available on the Litmaps search engine. If the time span is extended and the sources of articles are expanded there will be more literature available for analysis. The articles obtained are also only articles published in English due to the language limitations of the author.

Policymakers must establish a medical tourism ecosystem to accommodate all stakeholders in this industry. Stakeholders must work together to provide medical tourism package therefore people can get their health services while visiting available tourist areas.

The literary study of medical tourism over 10 years is considered the most recent systematic literature review.

This research theoretically proposed and empirically validated a Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) scale specifically for Medical Tourism for emerging economies including recent findings from tourism theories such as gravity model and signalling theory, but more specifically accommodating political, cultural, economic, legal and social influences.

In-depth literature reviews from tourism, medical tourism, healthcare and hospitality domains are used to propose the theoretical model. The authors have used the lavaan package in R for the empirical analysis and model verification.

The research included, tested and verified the established latent variables such as “brand awareness”, “brand association”, “perceived quality” and “loyalty”, along with new observed variables for the CBBE scale from the theoretical perspectives of this research. “Infrastructure” has emerged as a new scale construct and “culture” was found to be a moderating variable for “perceived quality” in the CBBE scale, which are novel additions to the literature.

The research contributed to scale refining, latent construct assessment, and fine-tuning of the observed variables for the mentioned theoretical gaps.

The goals of this review are to identify key theories, constructs and themes in the international business travel (IBT) literature and to propose a model based on findings, theories and constructs drawn from adjacent research literature.

The authors reviewed the business travel (BT) literature to identify conceptual and empirical articles on IBT published from 1990 to 2022. Only 53 publications were suitable for review. The authors reviewed them using an open coding system.

The IBT literature is dispersed across several disciplines that use different methods, focus on different aspects of travel and emphasize different positive and negative outcomes that IBT engenders. The publications employed a diverse range of methods, including review and conceptual (11), quantitative (28) and qualitative methods (14). The samples were diverse in country, age, marital status and tenure. Many publications were descriptive and exploratory. The few that based their research on theory focused on two stress theories: Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory.

Experimental and longitudinal designs are needed to reduce the causal ambiguity of this body of mostly correlational and cross-sectional research. The authors discuss the impact of emerging advances in virtual global communication technology on the future of IBT.

More research is needed on positive aspects of IBT. Human resource (HR) people should be aware of these issues and are encouraged to decrease the deleterious aspects of the international trips and increase the positive ones.

Increasing well-being of international business travelers is important for the travelers, their families and the organization.

This is the first IBT review focused on the theoretical underpinnings of research in the field. The authors offer a model for IBT and introduce adjustment and performance as important constructs in IBT research. The authors encompass crossover theory to add the reciprocal impact of travelers and spouses and label IBT a “double-edge sword” because it arouses both positive and negative outcomes.

Applying the value-attitude-behavior (VAB) model, this study investigated how perceived utilitarian and hedonic values (i.e. novelty and emotion) affect individuals' attitudes toward medical hotels and how these attitudes, in turn, influence their intentions to stay at medical hotels. The current study also explored the moderating impact of overall health status on the relationships between perceived utilitarian, novelty and emotional values and attitudes toward medical hotels.

The data collected from 351 individuals who spent a night in a hospital to undergo medical treatment was used in conducting structural equation modeling to evaluate the research model and test the study hypotheses.

The study results revealed that perceived utilitarian, novelty and emotional values exerted a positive influence on individuals’ attitudes toward medical hotels, consequently enhancing their intention to stay. Additionally, significant moderating impacts of overall health status on the associations between perceived utilitarian, novelty and emotional values and attitudes toward medical hotels were observed.

The study findings provide useful guidance for professionals, such as operators, marketers and managers in medical hotels. These insights can improve operational and marketing strategies, benefiting both the industry and healthcare accommodation seekers.

This study is among the first to empirically assess a theoretical model that explored the influence of individuals' value perceptions within the realm of medical hotel establishments.

This study aims to explore the heterogeneity of the tourist market for people with a physical disability (PwPD) based on travel barriers, to serve them better, from a tourism marketing perspective.

A market segmentation analysis was conducted on a sample of 480 PwPD in Sichuan Province, China, based on their perceived travel barriers. Data were obtained through three on-site and four online surveys. A four-step factor-item mixed segmentation, including factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis and chi-square tests, was applied to examine the differences among PwPD tourist market segments in terms of various demographic characteristics, disability conditions (e.g. duration of disabilities and causes of impairment) and travel features (e.g. travel frequency and tourist destinations).

This study revealed that the PwPD tourist market is heterogeneous due to individual perceived travel barriers. Three market segments were identified, namely, the Explorer Moderates group, the Explorer Minimals group and the Explorer Intensives group. Additionally, the three market segments were found to have significant differences in terms of travel barriers, demographic characteristics, travel features and disability conditions.

This research provides suggestions for authorities and private entities to optimize the layout of accessible facilities in public areas for the benefit of all. It also offers crucial implications for tourism marketers to determine the key facets of marketing, for travel organizers to evolve the organization of travel groups for PwPD, and for practitioners to provide personalized tourism services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to apply perceived travel barriers as a market segmentation criterion in understanding PwPD as a heterogeneous travel market. The findings of this study initially expand the scope of application of the travel barrier model and deepen understanding of the Chinese PwPD tourist market from a marketing perspective. The study results elucidated the heterogeneity and characteristics of this market through a four-step factor-item mixed segmentation approach, offering new insights into the behaviors and experiences of travelers with disabilities.

本研究旨在探索肢体残障人士旅游市场的异质性, 以便从旅游营销的角度更好地为他们服务。

基于对中国四川480名肢残人士出游障碍感知的问卷调查, 探索了肢残人士的旅游市场细分。数据是通过七次现场和在线调查获得; 采用四步因子-项目混合细分法, 根据残障状况、人口统计特征和旅游特征, 识别出肢残群体旅游细分市场之间的差异。

研究发现, 基于个体感知的出游障碍, 肢残群体旅游市场是异质的, 研究确定了三个细分市场, 即低度、中度和高度受限群体。三个细分市场在出行障碍、人口特征、出游特征和残障状况方面存在显著差异。

这项研究有助于政府管理部门优化公共区域无障碍设施布局; 旅游营销者确定营销的重点, 并为旅游组织者设计肢残旅游团体成员构成, 以及从业者提供个性化旅游服务提供重要的启示。

论文首次将感知出游障碍作为市场细分标准, 用以理解肢残群体作为异质游客市场。本研究的发现拓展了出游障碍模型的应用范围, 并从市场营销的角度加深了对中国肢残游客市场的理解。研究结果通过四步因子-项目混合细分方法阐明了该市场的异质性和特点, 为肢残游客的行为和体验研究提供了新见解。

Este estudio explora la heterogeneidad del mercado turístico de las personas con discapacidad física (PcDF) en función de las barreras percibidas para viajar, con el fin de prestarles un mejor servicio desde una perspectiva de marketing turístico.

Se realizó un análisis de segmentación de mercado en una muestra de 480 PcDF en Sichuan, China, en función de las barreras que percibían para viajar. Los datos se obtuvieron a través de tres encuestas in situ y cuatro encuestas en línea. Se aplicó una segmentación mixta factor-ítem de cuatro pasos que incluye análisis factorial, análisis de conglomerados, análisis discriminante y pruebas de chi-cuadrado para examinar las diferencias entre los segmentos del mercado turístico de PcDF, en términos de diversas características demográficas, condiciones de discapacidad (por ejemplo, duración de la discapacidad, causas de la discapacidad) y características de los viajes (por ejemplo, frecuencia de viaje, destinos turísticos).

Este estudio reveló que el mercado turístico de las PcDF es heterogéneo debido a las barreras de viaje percibidas por cada individuo. Se identificaron tres segmentos de mercado, a saber, el grupo de Exploradores Moderados, el grupo de Exploradores Mínimos y el grupo de Exploradores Intensivos. Los tres segmentos de mercado presentaban diferencias significativas en cuanto a las barreras para viajar, las características demográficas, las características del viaje y las condiciones de discapacidad.

Este estudio es el primero en aplicar las barreras percibidas para viajar como criterio de segmentación de mercado para comprender a las PcDF como un mercado turístico heterogéneo. Los hallazgos de este estudio amplían inicialmente el ámbito de aplicación del modelo de barreras para viajar y profundizan en la comprensión del mercado turístico chino de PcDF desde una perspectiva de marketing. Los resultados de nuestro estudio explicaron la heterogeneidad y las características de este mercado a través de un enfoque de segmentación mixta factor-ítem de cuatro pasos, contribuyendo a la literatura sobre el comportamiento y las experiencias de los viajeros con discapacidad.

Esta investigación proporciona sugerencias para que las autoridades y las entidades privadas puedan optimizar la disposición de instalaciones accesibles en zonas públicas en beneficio de todos. También ofrece implicaciones importantes a los comercializadores turísticos para que determinen aspectos clave del marketing, a los organizadores de viajes para que evolucionen en la organización de grupos de viaje para PcDF y a los profesionales para que presten servicios turísticos personalizados.

Human life has been unfavourably impacted by COVID-19, which has impacted the entire planet. Contrastingly, it is now crucial to discern the significance of health in human life and pay more attention to protecting health. Owing to COVID-19's influence on lifestyle, it is evident that the pandemic contributes to the development of health tourism and that wellness tourism, which was in the pre-pandemic growth trend, is favoured more often. Therefore, it is indisputable that stakeholders in the health and tourism industries view the rising demand for health-focused holidays as a potential. However, on the opposite hand, it is meaningful to broaden the number of products made available within the context of wellness tourism, to pinpoint areas that are conducive to health-related activities, to generate the infrastructure and superstructure required in these areas and to step up marketing initiatives in order to make the most of this opportunity. To address these concerns, it is deemed crucial that the parties involved in the tourism and health sectors coordinate their efforts.

The study aims to explore the intellectual structure of wellness tourism (WT) research by performing a two-phase methodological approach.

Citation and co-citation analysis were performed on 209 articles published up to October 2021 in Scopus, and the results were visualised with the VOSviewer software. Furthermore, to assess clusters in-depth, qualitative thematic content analysis was used.

The findings indicate that the main articles of WT research examine the demand side of WT. Five clusters were explored by co-citation analysis. Each cluster is discussed by presenting the main theme, key theoretical framework, and characteristic methodological perspective. Accordingly, no dominant theory stands out in research on wellness tourism. Most of the study has been done through cross-sectional surveys.

The authors anticipate that by the recommendations outlined in this study, WT research will progress and provide significant insights to WT practitioners in the coming years to meet tourist expectations.

Via this research, which shows the discovery of the intellectual structure of WT and its holistic picture, the deficiencies in the picture will be seen, and practitioners will be provided information based on evidence.