Alosman Abiyev

Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University

Magistrant
(+994 51) 758 61 07
aeliosman@gmail.com

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTH TOURISM

Abstract:
Keywords: risks; information and communication technologies; risk-based approach;

Xülasə:
Açar sözlər: risklər; informasiya və kommunikasiya texnologiyaları; riskə əsaslanan yanaşma;

Резюме:
Ключевые слова: риски; информационные и коммуникационные технологии; риск-
ориентированный подход;

Introduction
“Medical tourism” or alternatively called “health tourism” and “wellness tourism” is a
term that has risen from the rapid growth of an industry where people from all around the world are
travelling to other countries to obtain medical, dental and surgical care while at the same time
touring, vacationing and fully experiencing the attractions of the countries that they are visiting.
This travel is “driven by the internet, progressively cheaper flights, improved physical connectivity
between larg e numbers of nations, improving longevity and most importantly disenchantment with
the delivery of healthcare in terms of quality and price in the countries people live in” (Garg, S.R.,
& Bhardwaj, A. 2012). This combination of medicine, i.e. providing complex medical services and
tourism is a relatively new type of tourism showing a high rate of growth. It combines travelling
with the provision of various, often-serious medical services, such as operations, transplantations,
plastic surgery, dental procedures, as well as other more simple medical interventions. This kind of
health tourism most often involves cross border travelling, where the provision of medical services
is the only or the primary motive for travelling (Connell J. 2006).
 Health tourism aims to improve tourists’ health status by relaxing in spa or providing
alternative treatments, whereas medical tourism implies diagnosis, hospitalization and surgical
operations to improve or restore health in the long term (Connell J. 2006). Recently, an increasing
number of patients from developed countries have been travelling to medical centres of less
developed countries in order to obtain certain medical services. It should be noted that numerous
factors of medical tourist demand and supply have influenced this change of direction, such as the
inability to obt ain health service in their own countries due to the high health care costs, the
absence of public or private insurance schemes coverage, long waiting lists, the non existence of
specific health technol ogies, contracting with well known western clinics and hospital universities
and other ethical and religious issues (Horowitz , M.D., Rosensweig, J.A. & Jones, C.A. 2007).

ICT in health tourism

Information technology is a special interest to the tourism industry since websites may be
the first and only contact with the potential customers. The hotel industry has realized the
importance of the information technology as an innovative distribution channel for disseminating
information on products and services, for online purchases and for opportunity to communicate
directly with e-consumers (Katsoni V., & Venetsanopoulou, M. 2012). Deliberate marketing of
medical tourism has as a result a globalisation of health services [15], and advertisements for
medical tourism invariably stress technology, quality reliability, and overseas training (Connell J.
2006). The integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) into the
organizational fabric of medical tourism business, is an important key to success. ICTs use in
medical tourism affects the whole structure of the medical tourism industry, not only supply and
demand side, but also medical tourism intermediaries (Lunt, N., Mannion, R, & Exworthy, M.
2012). Rapidly improving health care systems in some key countries, where new technologies have
been adopted, in order to become important global destination, have upgraded and imported
technology, absorbed western medical protocols and emphasized low cost and prompt attention,
but also advertised as important the links to their IT industry (Connell J. 2006).
The rise of the Internet and the access to price information has facilitated growth in
medical tourism, but also helped in the emergence of a third party intermediary and this emergence
of new companies, “that are not health specialists, but brokers between international patients and
hospital networks” (Connell J. 2006), act as advisers and help the consumer/patient select,
negotiate and access health care abroad (Cormany, D. & Baloglu, S. 2010), (Crooks, V. A.,
Kingsbury, P., Snyder, J. & Johnston, R. 2010). The need for the creation of these intermediaries
mainly stems from medical tourists’ lack of the technical knowledge to assess the quality and
appropriateness of care and may struggle with a foreign language or navigating a different health
system (Legido-Quigley, H., McKee, M., Nolte, E. & Glinos, I. 2008). Thus, several medical
tourism companies have differentiated themselves from their competitors by consistently managing
to attract news coverage and by developing social media strategies that take advantage of free
marketing opportunities provided by social media such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter
(Turner, L. 2012) and in many cases, the main source of information on quality is provided by a
consumer friendly website created by intermediary organizations (Lunt, N., Hardey, M. &
Mannion, R. 2010), which provides reassurance about the quality of treatments and the
qualifications and competences of foreign providers and individual clinicians. It is difficult for
most medical tourism companies however, to keep pace with the evolution of new technologies,
the emergence of innovative advertising strategies, the changes in the consumer market, limited
financial and human resources and the growing competition due to increasing globalization, and all
these aspects impact the way medical tourism destinations are promoted and developed.

Conclusion
Medical tourism is a form of tourism mixed between outbound tourism and medical
treatment at the same time. It is very popular nowadays because of considerable advantages, e.g.,
reducing queuing for medical treatment in their own countries, lower medical expenses but with
equal or better quality. Another factor bringing medical tourism is the development of ICT, applied
through the internet. It helps supporting data and information for communication between service
providers and clients. ICT in medical tourism industry, there are also many other technologies;
social media and website, i.e., it supports communication both providers and medical tourists and
presents medical tourism’s information for pre-trip decision. Electronic Medical Record system
(EMR), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Telemedicine, e-consult and e-doctor support
internal work with providers which effect to facilitation medical tourists.
The transformative power of technology could not obviously be missing from the
healthcare sector. Even though it is a sector requiring highly skilled individuals with many years of
studies, it is also a very demanding one in infrastructure and tools. The rise of life expectancy
worldwide and the aging of populations create a very demanding area for innovation and
technology in healthcare. However, it seems that innovation in the field is very robust, thus
changing the landscape every year.
List of references
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Healthcare Marketplace MedGenMed., 9 (4) (2007), pp. 33-39
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