A Study on Determinants of Medical Tourism Demand in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify the predictive factors of medical tourism in Vietnam by analyzing the variables that lead to the annual visitor number. Design/methodology/approach – This study collected data from Vietnamese with experience in domestic and international medical tourism, and focused on Hanoi, Vietnam. In this study, the variable of medical tourism preferences was applied independently. Factors that impacted the number of annual visitors were estimated by the truncated Poisson model. Findings – The results of the TP model analysis of demand for medical tourism are as follows. Among the variables related to socio-economic characteristics, age, marital status, and occupation had a significantly positive effect on the number of annual medical visits. These results imply that it is important to understand socio-economic characteristics to expand demand for medical tourism in Vietnam, which shows high growth potential. The top three variables that gave a significant positive effect on the number of annual medical visitors are the level of medical technology, waiting time, and price, as well as medical service experience. Research implications – The results indicate the need to develop medical tourism products tailored to consumer tastes by subdividing medical technology levels, waiting for time and price, medical experience services, and so on. Thus, the results presented by this study create a starting point for the development of demand forecasting models for the domestic, international, and Vietnamese medical tourism markets in the future.