Wellness Tourism And Medical Tourism !EXCLUSIVE!
Today you have more options than ever when it comes to where to obtain medical procedures and treatments. In particular, health and travel converge in the form of medical tourism and wellness tourism, with both rising in popularity every year.
Wellness Tourism and Medical Tourism
That need is the availability of professional and safe medical facilities and personnel to carry medical procedures, treatments, as well as threatening life-threatening ones. The main focus of this type of tourism is the availability of high-quality treatment.
Affordability is often the main factor why patients often choose medical tourism. Treatment costs are frequently mixed up by other benefits, such as living expenses for you and your companion, included in the quoted overall price, or it may not be. Each destination can differ widely when it comes to billing.
In contrast, wellness tourism occurs when someone who looks for help jumpstarts on a healthy lifestyle or finds new ways to improve their physical and mental health. In other words, travelers voluntarily focus on enhancing their well-being in some way.
Locations for wellness tourism abound these days. Popular options include destinations with special natural resources aiding health, such as mineral springs and therapeutic muds. The landscape is another factor, providing hiking trails or tranquil spots to meditate.
Wellness tourism offers opportunities to learn how to better your eating habits, develop a healthy exercise routine, improve your flexibility, calm your mind, reduce stress, as well as improve your overall mental health.
Medical tourism can be considered as a response to a medical condition or desired treatment, prompted by illness or a desire to enhance a physical attribute via surgery or treatment. In contrast, wellness tourism is a way to look for ways to enhance health and well-being in various ways and locations.
Medical tourism and wellness tourism share a few things in common. At their core, each one offers healthcare solutions, and they sometimes share locations or destinations. Wellness tourism can serve as a follow-up to medical tourism once whole healing occurs.
Medical tourists travel abroad to receive more affordable medical surgeries or treatments and look for higher quality standards or a better access to care in comparison to what they could get in their home country. Those travelling for wellness, on the other hand, seek activities that maintain or enhance their health and wellbeing. In this case, their main motivators usually are unique, location-based experiences or therapies that are not available in their home country.
In other words, medical tourism involves treatments or aesthetic enhancements executed by professional doctors, while wellness services are not necessarily provided by conventional medical experts. Wellness tourists aim to prevent diseases rather than treat existing conditions.
For example, medical tourism involves people who travel for surgeries and dental care, while wellness tourism involves travellers seeking to try out SPA treatments and rituals, balanced diet seminars and fitness events.
Medical tourism involves travel to hospitals and clinics for medical treatments in different areas including cardiology gynaecology neurology ophthalmology oncology orthopaedic transplants preventive medicine artificial insemination anti-aging medicine and plastic reconstructive medicine.
Medical tourism is also known as medical travel health tourism health travel healthcare tourism healthcare abroad medical overseas and overseas medical.Medical tourism has two components: inbound and outbound. In 2012 it was estimated that a million medical tourists travelled around the world for outbound/inbound medical tourism.
The attractiveness and competitive advantage of medical/ aesthetical tourism are competitive prices on a global scale international accessibility and proximity international accreditation/certification and excellence.
As a professor he conceptualized a discipline in health and wellness tourism which he teaches in the School of Management Hospitality and Tourism of Algarve University. He has lectured in various universities in Portugal Spain and Brazil and is researching health and wellness tourism around the world.
Fernandes is a consultant in this area both nationally and internationally. Fernandes has spoken at several conferences in Portugal Spain Brazil Turkey Cape Verde and Monaco on sustainable health and wellness tourism. He is the author of the book ThalassaThermae SPA-Salute Per Aqua (Lisboa Portugal 2006).
She has delivered presentations at various international conferences and is considered an expert in health and wellness tourism. Fernandes has been researching and teaching health and wellness tourism in the School of Management Hospitality and Tourism at Algarve University.
Medical, health and wellness tourism and travel represent a dynamic and rapidly growing multi-disciplinary economic activity and field of knowledge. This research responds to earlier calls to integrate research on travel medicine and tourism. It critically reviews the literature published on these topics over a 50-year period (1970 to 2020) using CiteSpace software. Some 802 articles were gathered and analyzed from major databases including the Web of Science and Scopus. Markets (demand and behavior), destinations (development and promotion), and development environments (policies and impacts) emerged as the main three research themes in medical-health-wellness tourism. Medical-health-wellness tourism will integrate with other care sectors and become more embedded in policy-making related to sustainable development, especially with regards to quality of life initiatives. A future research agenda for medical-health-tourism is discussed.
The Center for Medical Tourism Research (CMTR) forms part of the Liza and Jack Lewis III Institute of the Americas at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. This is the world's premier academic research center devoted to medical tourism / travel research. The center's founder and Director is David George Vequist IV, Ph.D. who is regarded as one of the leading academic speakers and authors on the industry of medical tourism / travel.
The global wellness tourism market size was valued at USD 814.6 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.42% from 2023 to 2030. Wellness tourism refers to tourism activities aimed at improving and enhancing an individual's physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Tourists indulge in physical, spiritual, and mental activities by practicing yoga, spas, meditation, and Pilates, and by visiting hot spring resorts. The trend of interacting with the locals of the destination who have visited and experienced different cultures promotes personal well-being.
Unlike medical tourism, wellness tourism focuses on the prevention of diseases. It emphasizes a healthy lifestyle and improved quality of life. On the other hand, medical tourism involves treating an already diagnosed condition. Wellness is a precautionary measure to optimize health. The growing number of tourists across the globe has contributed to the requirement for various well-being services. Service providers are focusing on offering spa therapies and other activities to ensure customer satisfaction. In addition, increased expenditure in the tourism sector is expected to have a positive impact on the market.
Based on travel purpose, the secondary segment held the maximum market share in 2022 and is expected to continue its dominance during the forecast period. Secondary tourism activities include tourists seeking well-being activities when it is not the primary motivation for the trip. In secondary tourism, spa treatments, body experiences, and mind & health activities are added to leisure or business travel. According to GWI, secondary travel accounted for around 92.0% of wellness tourism trips in 2020. This can be attributed to the rising uptake of wellness services during international business meetings.
On the basis of travel type, the market is bifurcated into domestic and international. The domestic segment accounted for a major portion of the global wellness tourism market in 2022. The segment is estimated to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Rising expenditure recorded by domestic travelers for wellness activities is contributing to segment growth. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has helped increase the number of domestic visitors, as international borders were closed. As a result, tourists went to destinations within their home countries.
The international segment is expected to register the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. This is mainly due to increased spending per trip, increased travel to overseas destinations, rising disposable income, and increasing popularity of Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand & Malaysia as tourism destinations offering services at lower prices. Furthermore, increasing spending on social and physical well-being, especially due to concern for a healthy lifestyle, is propelling segment growth.
North America dominated the market with a revenue share of 39.7% in 2022. This is due to the increasing emphasis on physical and mental health and high disposable income. Active marketing by top players on the importance of physical and mental well-being achieved through yoga, rejuvenation therapy, herbal remedies, meditation, agritourism, and spa therapies at exotic destinations is increasing the number of trips to North America.
The market in Asia Pacific is estimated to witness lucrative growth due to the growing popularity of various exotic destinations such as China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. In addition, the proliferation of hotel chains with centers offering massages, spa treatments, herbal treatments, and rejuvenation programs is projected to positively impact the market growth in the region. In February 2019, Aman Spa Amanpuri, a wellness center that also provides medical services, opened in Thailand. Also, in July 2018, Evolution Wellness Holdings, a company based in Malaysia, launched a new wellness resort named Fivelements Pte. Ltd. The entry of new players in the market is likely to intensify competition and significantly contribute to the growth of the market in Asia Pacific. 041b061a72