In the global healthcare sector, there is an emerging, highly differentiated, market of consumers travelling for
healthcare and medical services. In these markets, referred to as “medical tourism”, what is the role of destination perception in consumers’ choices? Medical tourism depends upon consumer (patient) choice, and upon destination attractiveness.
The Medical Travel Destination Index scores and ranks countries based on their comparative attractiveness as medical tourism destinations.
Medical Travel Destination Rank 16-06-03
My colleagues, Chris Robertson and John Geenty at Northeastern University and me are developing the Medical Travel Destination Index (MDTI). MDTI is a comparative attractiveness ranking for destination countries in medical travel. The preliminary results of this comparative attractiveness research were presented at the IMTJ Medical Travel Summit in Madrid.
While this first medical travel destination ranking is far from complete, it offers two distinct benefits from the absence of any such ranking. First, it begins what should be a constructive dialogue within the sector about the role of destination in consumer choice in medical travel. Second, the ranking contains five transparent components, offering countries the opportunity to analyze where they are strong, and where further initiatives can improve their comparative rankings.