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Medical Tourism: Theory and Research, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research Special Issue Call for Papers; Deadline: October 15, 2008

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research (IJCTHR) invites submission of manuscripts for a special issue focusing on medical tourism theory, research and case studies. The unavailability of affordable, high quality healthcare is a rising concern for many of the world’s developed as well as developing countries. Medical tourism is a growing segment of the travel industry aimed at individuals who are willing to travel abroad to seek affordable medical services in world-class vacation destinations. With healthcare costs rising at an alarming rate, and an aging baby boomer population across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and even Asian nations like Japan, experts predict that medical tourism will explode over the next several years. Countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, South Africa, Jordan, Malaysia, Hungary, Latvia, Thailand, Singapore, and India are now vying for lucrative pieces of the global medical tourism pie.

While medical tourism holds great promise for consumers’ access to timely, low-cost and high quality healthcare, the allure of receiving such care in exotic vacation destinations introduces a whole new dimension to the delivery of healthcare. Starting with the somewhat oxymoronic nature of the term itself – combining life-critical medical care issues and hedonic pleasures of tourism in one phrase – "medical tourism" offers a tapestry of contradictory strategic stances and consumer concerns. Although it seems logical to assume that consumers would be attracted to low cost medical care in world-class resort destinations – where one can relax and enjoy an exotic faraway tourist destination – questions concerning the economic, social, cultural and political implications of this growing phenomenon remain largely unexplored.

Potential topics and questions of articles in this IJCTHR special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• As medical travel agencies and tourism councils from many developing countries continue to market their destinations to potential medical tourists, what is truly known about the demographic, psychographic and behavioral profiles of the international medical consumer? How should developing countries segment the medical tourism market?
• What are the economic, political, and cultural impacts of medical outsourcing on both developing and developed countries? How do those consumers who cannot afford health care in their local markets afford to travel abroad for care?
• What attributes are most important to consumers when considering a particular international medical tourism destination (e.g. price, quality of care, travel distance, accommodations, medical need, tourist attractions)?
• Do other factors influence the decision to travel to a particular country rather than another (e.g. consumer’s country of residence and ethnicity, willingness to travel abroad, feelings of ethnocentrism, suspicion of or animosity toward a country, etc.)?
• How are the poorest of consumers being treated? What are the wider social, cultural and political implications as well as the contradictions that underline the emergence and growth of medical tourism?
• Are consumers better off with the availability of medical options abroad in compared to at-home medical procedures? Does the globalization of medicine offer consumers freedom from the constraints of their local marketplace? Or is medical tourism just a last-resort option in a world of increasingly constricted choices?
• How do developing countries attract and manage global talent (e.g., visionary physicians, nurses, and public health administrators)?
• For developing counties pursuing medical tourists, what marketing strategies are most effective to help best position them in a global economy (brand positioning, affiliations, etc.)? How do these countries ensure quality, medical standards, and legal protect to international patients?

The globalization of medicine provides a useful tapestry to explore what Appadurai (1990) calls the "complexity of the current global economy." The editors encourage theoretical or empirical articles that address aspects of the above questions or any other dimensions related to medical tourism and the globalization of medicine. Innovative investigative methods (either qualitative or quantitative) or traditional methods are welcome.

Ralph J. Perfetto Jr. and Nikhilesh Dholakia, University of Rhode Island, are serving as the Guest Editors for this special issue. Manuscripts prepared in APA style using MS-WORD should be submitted electronically to both: rperfetto@mail.uri.edu and nik@uri.edu. Prior to submission, ensure that your manuscript complies with the preparation guidelines for International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research as detailed under "Instructions to Authors" at: .

Reference

Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. (1990), .

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