Health Tourism: Conceptual Framework and Insights from the Case of a Spanish Mature Destination
Despite the already published work around health tourism in the last two decades, there continues to be, firstly, a jungle of similar and mixed concepts (most of the previous studies have analysed different aspects of this type of tourism, mainly medical tourism, without providing a clear and in...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Algarve, ESGHT/CINTURS
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Tourism & Management Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://tmstudies.net/index.php/ectms/article/view/750/pdf_8 |
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| Summary: | Despite the already published work around health tourism in the last
two decades, there continues to be, firstly, a jungle of similar and
mixed concepts (most of the previous studies have analysed different
aspects of this type of tourism, mainly medical tourism, without
providing a clear and integrated framework). And, secondly, an area of
scarcity of research on mature destinations (mostly Asian countries
have received the attention). Filling these gaps are the two research
questions of the paper. To answer them, firstly, a simplified framework
integrating the different concepts and approaches to health tourism is
proposed. Secondly, the complexity of the continuum of different
practices associated with the supply side of health tourism is
illustrated with a case study of a mature destination. Empirical data
from a web and telephone based questionnaire conducted on a
randomly selected sample of health tourism establishments of a selfdeveloped data set, and some personal interviews, have been
analysed to describe health tourism in the Costa del Sol, a mature
Mediterranean destination in the south of Spain. This paper
contributes to the literature by showing the complexity of the several
practices included in the conceptual umbrella of health tourism in a
mature destination, and the main enablers and barriers for
cooperation between tourism and health companies. Some managerial
and political implications are also included. |
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| ISSN: | 2182-8466 |