Medical tourism for regional leadership from a financial and business perspective: a literature review in Scopus

Medical tourism is an increasingly important economic and social phenomenon, characterized by the combination of health services and tourism experiences. However, to date it has been insufficiently studied from the management perspective. This article analyzes global trends in medical tourism in multiple fields of economic sciences, using a bibliometric and scientometric approach to identify patterns in the academic literature indexed in Scopus during the period 2017-2022. The design included the collection and analysis of data on publications, citations, keywords, institutions, disciplinary areas, predominant languages, and types of documents. The results showed an increase in academic production related to the topic, highlighting the growing participation of Latin American institutions and the predominance of research in English. The most used keywords reflected a focus on topics such as sustainability, health economics, and business management. Significant gaps in the regulation and standardization of services were identified, as well as the need for greater technological integration to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector. Finally, the importance of addressing medical tourism from the perspective of economic and financial sciences is highlighted, with an emphasis on the analysis of capital flows, strategic planning and long-term sustainability