KOREASCHOLAR

Research on medical tourism (MT) has focused more attention on the growing supply side of the market than the demand side (Gan & Frederick, 2013). There is a need therefore for more research to better understand the demand aspects of this growing industry. Most of the research on MT consumers focuses on two main factors for deciding to travel abroad for medical care: cost and quality of the service (Gan & Frederick, 2013; Lunt et al., 2011). Since both outcome and process healthcare service quality (SQ) remain a concern for medical tourists (Gan & Frederick, 2013; Lunt et al., 2011), it is important to understand medical tourists’ perceptions of their international patient experience. This study aims to investigate this topic, and address the demand side research gap, by content analyzing the online testimonials of medical tourists, who traveled to Thailand for medical care, through a SQ lens. By doing so, this research strives to provide a first-person perspective of Thailand’s MT SQ. No other studies in the MT literature have been identified that used this approach to investigate MT SQ.

• Michael Guiry(University of the Incarnate Word)