Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of traveling across international borders to obtain health care.

Medical tourism is a term that has risen from the rapid growth of international healthcare where people from all around the world are traveling to other countries to obtain general medical surgery, cosmetic plastic surgery and dental surgery at a fraction of the cost of healthcare in their home country. And, while abroad, if physical conditions permit, patients can experience the interesting cultural attractions their destination country offers (www.medretreat.com)

ICT (Information & Communication Technology) has made significant inroads into the tourism industry in the last one decade which includes its contribution by facilitating sustainable tourism practices. The concept of e-Tourism has enabled many SMEs to compete with major giants in the tourism industry and has benefited many local communities at tourist destinations. ICT has played an important role in tourism in the last one decade revolutionising the distribution system and opening new horizons in the trade. Trade and commerce with the help of ICT or e-Commerce has resulted in E-Tourism which is electronic commerce in Tourism (Buhalis, 2000). E-Tourism has enabled direct transaction between service providers and consumers, advanced ways of information dissemination and information display and faster operations. Neoconsumers of tourism are found to be Net savvy and are more literate and accessible to ICT and, therefore, e-Tourism can be a way to tap this market directly (Sheldon, 2002).

In this study the usage of ICT in the form of internet portals in facilitating consumer–supplier interface in medical tourism is the main focus area. In the context of Malaysia, medical tourism is an emerging giant and internet portals and websites can facilitate the growth of this sector significantly. At present, there are a number of medical tourism service facilitators in the country out of which Malaysiahealthcare.com is the most prominent in carrying out medical tourism business in the country.

Research Questions:

Methodology: The qualitative method of analysis shall be adopted for the study to get a subjective and in-depth understanding of the topic. Primary data shall be collected through interviews with reputed medical tourism service facilitators in the country. Secondary data will be collected through journals and other published data and statistics.

Scope: The study will reveal the prospects of ICT applications in yet another area in Tourism. The consumer–supplier interface through the internet technology in the context of medical tourism could be best understood through this study. Malaysia is an emerging destination for medical tourism and ICT will play a very important role in its development and growth. The study should be able to provide a basic idea about how the process of medical tourism could be made reasonably effective through the usage of internet portals.

goto top