Yuaner, Ma (2024) Factors to raise the international profile of China’s medical tourism: Validating Malaysia’s model in China. Doctoral thesis, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
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Abstract
This thesis is written in order to raise the international profile of China’s medical tourism industry. Currently, Malaysia is increasingly recognized as a world-leading destination for medical tourism and ranked among the top medical tourism destinations in Asia. Its medical tourism is famous for low cost and high standard of healthcare. The researcher found that the researcher’s home country China, its medical tourism industry is just at the beginning stage and China can learn a lot from Malaysia in this field. The objective of this research is to explore how, within the strategic framework of Service Marketing Mix (7 P’s), China can raise its profile as a popular medical tourism destination and improve the international competitiveness of the industry by referring to Malaysia’s practices? The researcher identified eight value drivers from the successful experience behind Malaysia’s medical tourism. The successful experience is from the articles written by authoritative Malaysian scholars and most of the articles are being indexed by SSCI and Scopus. The researcher then developed these eight value drivers into eight hypotheses, using them to test whether the industry can attract more foreigners and achieve great success once these elements are applied under a Mainland China context. Therefore, the researcher obtained the total number of medical tourists entering Malaysia in Year 2019 and their regional distribution from Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), so as to conduct a stratified sampling survey. Year 2019 is the most prosperous year for the global economy, including Malaysia’s economy, before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The number of medical tourists entering Malaysia in 2019 is quite representative. The researcher selected 300 tourists with previous healthcare experience in Malaysia and asked them whether they would consider China as one of the alternative destinations if private hospitals in China had elements such as high affordability, easy accessibility, and cultural sensitivity, etc. The data collected fully supports that the regression model proposed by the researcher is valid. If China could do better in terms of affordability, accessibility, quality care, advanced medical technology, religious implications for clinical practice, language proficiency, cultural sensitivity and religious tolerance, it will undoubtedly enhance the perception of potential medical tourists from all over the world regarding China as a destination choice. In addition, the moderating effect of Income Level (M) is also valid for some hypotheses. For all the people, regardless of which income group they come from, the higher their income level, the better China performs in terms of cultural sensitivity, and the more likely they enhance the perception of taking China as a medical tourism destination. For the upper middle class of each country, the higher their income level, the better China performs in terms of affordability, quality care, cultural sensitivity, and religious tolerance, and the more likely these potential customers enhance the perception of taking China as a medical tourism destination. If China is aiming to get a piece of the global medical tourism market pie, it can choose some more developed cities or border cities to prioritize the development of medical tourism. Moreover, these cities must develop some disciplines ii with their own characteristics and increase their influence through high-level international exchanges. In addition to the optimization of service procedures and access to more commercial health insurance, these cities must accelerate the transformation of leading disciplines into new products for international medical services. Taking the lead from popular destination country such as Malaysia, it is suggested that China launches a preferential visa policy for those seeking medical treatment. As for the limitation of this study, the number of respondents is relatively small. The questionnaire should actually be sent to locations like Singapore and Indonesia for survey. Singapore has a highly extensive service sector and is one of the world’s top medical tourism destinations. Indonesia has a large number of people going abroad to seek medical treatment each year. The viewpoints collected there may represent a more global perspective. In the end, because this study spans both pre-COVID and post-COVID eras, the researcher also reflects on the future development trend for China’s medical tourism. In the past, foreigners might have been more attracted to a variety of low-cost options, but now they may be more concerned about whether a destination could implement standards to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 or other infectious agents.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Medical tourism, Strategic framework, China's medical tourism industry |
| Divisions: | Library > Tesis > FPTT |
| Depositing User: | Muhamad Hafeez Zainudin |
| Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2025 16:28 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Jan 2025 16:28 |
| URI: | http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/28372 |
| Statistic Details: | View Download Statistic |
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