A Regional Competition Analysis of Medical Tourism Industry-an Example of Taiwan

Abstract

This study explores a process that conducts regional competition analysis of medical tourism. It conducts a Modified Delphi expert consensus process and analytic network process (ANP) to explore the associations and weights of the factors in the evaluation model. The results demonstrate that the government factors, including government support and the legal system, are the most important competitive factors of the medical tourism industry. High-ranking sub-criteria, including the marketing strategy and physician training systems, are related to the government factor. Short-term treatment medical programs, such as cosmetic surgery and dentistry, are priorities for development. A friendly legal system and government-led marketing strategies are strongly suggested for development in Taiwan. Superior healthcare quality and a well-established and a physician training system are Taiwans main competitive advantages compared with the rest of Asia. The model provides an objective view for evaluating the importance of competitive factors for developing medical tourism and builds a framework to analyze the regional competition of medical tourism.