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Barriers to business relations between medical tourism facilitators and medical professionals

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  • Skountridaki, Lila

Abstract

This paper examines facets of the developing business relations between two important actors in the supply-chain of transnational healthcare: medical tourism facilitators and medical doctors (MDs) practicing privately and internationalising their services. The empirical focus is Greece, an emerging destination for medical care. Drawing on the sociology of the professions as an analytical framework, rich qualitative data reveals a conflictual aspect in the relation between the two actors, and informs the literature on transnational healthcare of barriers to market development. Particularly, MDs practicing privately often resist what is perceived to be medical tourism facilitators' pressures to control the 'rules of the game' in the submarket which inhibits their collaboration. The paper contributes, thus, to the sociology of the professions by bringing to light a new challenge for MDs engaged in the transnational business arena, represented here by the facilitators; and encourages tourism practitioners to consider MDs' self-understanding, attitudes, and expectations.

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  • Skountridaki, Lila, 2017. "Barriers to business relations between medical tourism facilitators and medical professionals," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 254-266.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:59:y:2017:i:c:p:254-266
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2016.07.008
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    2. Farah Afiqah Mohammad Ramli & Ahmad Rais Mohamad Mokhtar & Mohd Hafiz Zulfakar & Veera Pandiyan Kaliani Sundram, 2025. "Enhancing Customer Satisfaction through Medical Tourism Supply Chain," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(6), pages 5978-5989, June.
    3. Dalia Perkumienė & Milita Vienažindienė & Biruta Švagždienė, 2019. "Cooperation Perspectives in Sustainable Medical Tourism: The Case of Lithuania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Pham Ngoc Thuy & Le Nguyen Hau & Nguyen Kim Ngoc Duyen, 2019. "A value perspective of service interaction quality: the case of immigrants returning to native countries as medical tourists," International Journal of Quality Innovation, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Iva Bulatovic & Katia Iankova, 2021. "Barriers to Medical Tourism Development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-14, February.
    6. Tyrone T. Lin & Hui-Tzu Yen, 2020. "The Criteria of Optimal Training Cost Allocation for Sustainable Value in Aesthetic Medicine Industry," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Soojung Kim & Charles Arcodia & Insin Kim, 2019. "Critical Success Factors of Medical Tourism: The Case of South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Hallow Al-Talabani & Hasan Kilic & Ali Ozturen & Suhad Othman Qasim, 2019. "Advancing Medical Tourism in the United Arab Emirates: Toward a Sustainable Health Care System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, January.

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