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Understanding medical tourists: Word-of-mouth and viral marketing as potent marketing tools

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  • Yeoh, Eugene
  • Othman, Khalifah
  • Ahmad, Halim

Abstract

The medical tourism industry in Malaysia has grown drastically over the past ten years. This research seeks to determine the demographics of the medical tourists that are visiting Malaysia for various medical treatments. A nationwide questionnaire survey was carried out amongst outpatient medical tourists from medical tourism certified hospitals. The results indicated that majority of the tourists were repeat tourists from Indonesia and most of these outpatient patients spend about seven days in Malaysia with at least one companion. The results also revealed that most of the tourists were influenced by friends, family, relatives and doctor's referral.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeoh, Eugene & Othman, Khalifah & Ahmad, Halim, 2013. "Understanding medical tourists: Word-of-mouth and viral marketing as potent marketing tools," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 196-201.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:34:y:2013:i:c:p:196-201
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2012.04.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bochaton, Audrey, 2015. "Cross-border mobility and social networks: Laotians seeking medical treatment along the Thai border," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 364-373.
    2. Jiang, Kai & Luk, Sherriff Ting-kwong & Cardinali, Silvio, 2018. "The role of pre-consumption experience in perceived value of retailer brands: Consumers' experience from emerging markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 374-385.
    3. Neha Malhotra & Kartik Dave, 2022. "An Assessment of Competitiveness of Medical Tourism Industry in India: A Case of Delhi NCR," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 215-228, December.
    4. Chuang, Thomas C. & Liu, John S. & Lu, Louis Y.Y. & Lee, Yachi, 2014. "The main paths of medical tourism: From transplantation to beautification," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 49-58.
    5. de la Hoz-Correa, Andrea & Muñoz-Leiva, Francisco & Bakucz, Márta, 2018. "Past themes and future trends in medical tourism research: A co-word analysis," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 200-211.
    6. Salman Majeed & Changbao Lu & Mahwash Majeed & Muahmmad Naeem Shahid, 2018. "Health Resorts and Multi-Textured Perceptions of International Health Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Samar Billi Noaman & Mazen Jabbour & Daniel Range & Leonardo Mataruna-Dos-Santos, 2023. "Data-Driven Market Segmentation: The Case of Medical Tourists in Lebanon," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 35(1), pages 57-75.
    8. Ilisa Fajriyati & Adi Zakaria Afiff & Gita Gayatri & Sri Rahayu Hijrah Hati, 2022. "Attributes Influencing Overall Tourist Satisfaction and Its Consequences for Muslim-Majority Destination," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, January.
    9. Kaspar, Heidi & Abegg, Alwin & Reddy, Sunita, 2023. "Of odysseys and miracles: A narrative approach on therapeutic mobilities for ayurveda treatment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    10. Liang, Sai & Schuckert, Markus & Law, Rob & Chen, Chih-Chien, 2017. "Be a “Superhost”: The importance of badge systems for peer-to-peer rental accommodations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 454-465.
    11. Su, Lujun & Hsu, Maxwell K. & Boostrom, Robert E., 2020. "From recreation to responsibility: Increasing environmentally responsible behavior in tourism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 557-573.
    12. Jaapar, Mustaffa & Musa, Ghazali & Moghavvemi, Sedigheh & Saub, Roslan, 2017. "Dental tourism: Examining tourist profiles, motivation and satisfaction," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 538-552.

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