
I. Groshev (aus_tgy@mail.ru),
State University of Management, 99, Ryazanskiy Prosp., Moscow, 109542, Russian Federation;
Research Institute of Education and Science, 32/3, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Str., Moscow, 123056, Russian Federation;
A. Krasnoslobodtsev (aus_tgy@mail.ru),
Research Institute of Education and Science, 32/3, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Str., Moscow, 123056, Russian Federation
Abstract. The article considers new and fast-growing format of international tourism – medical tourism. Medical tourism is a hybrid of medical and hospitality services within a single market system with its own infrastructure, including medical facilities, sending institutions, medical tourism agencies, and medical travel experts. For some countries, for instance, Israel, treatment of foreign patients turned into a priority direction of the national economy development. It receives a considerable legal, regulative and marketing support from the government. The global market of medical tourism already acquired a distinct shape. The authors consider main trends of contemporary medical tourism: yield potential, particular features, growth points and specialization of the main involved countries. It is stressed that the market of medical services has a high yield potential, especially when unique products with a high added value are proposed under attractive conditions. The typical costs of medical tourists are significantly higher as compared to traditional tourists’ spending. From county to country such costs have significant individual variations primarily defined by the costs of therapeutic part of the touristic product. The authors investigate the motives of international medical tourists (including price/quality ratio, applied technology, ethical aspects of treatment), the sources of information on medical tourism opportunities and the range of sought-after medical procedures. The principal types of medical tourism are singled out and analyzed in details: health, fitness and wellness tourism. It is noted that Russia has good prospects for integration in the international medical tourism market. As for now, Russia is basically positioned at the consumer side of this market. Russia can become a supplier of medical services for foreign clients on the basis of major improvements in the nation-wide system of healthcare.
Keywords: medical tourism, health tourism, wellness tourism, medical services, tourist, tourist service, patient
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