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Health and medical tourism
Edited by C. Michael Hall
Introduction
Many factors have led to the emergence of the rapidly growing "wellness industry" of which wellness tourism is one. These factors include the increasingly hectic pace of living, high stress-levels among the workforce, the loss of traditional community structures and religious organisation, and the resultant desire to slow down, to simplify, and to find meaning in life ([6] Douglas, 2001; [35] Pollock and Williams, 2000; [40] Smith and Puczkó, 2008). In addition, escalating health costs, growing scepticism of orthodox Western medicine, and rising consumer-centeredness in Western health-care systems have stimulated a desire to live healthier lives, and to experiment with more holistic, alternative healing therapies ([41] Sointu, 2006; [48] Weiermair and Steinhauser, 2003).
The wellness industry is expected to develop further as these influences show no sign of abating, and growth in wellness tourism can be expected. However, wellness tourism remains an area with few empirical studies from which to glean in-depth information about who these tourists are or exactly what they are looking for, and what it is worth to them. From a marketing perspective, it is essential to understand the behaviour, needs and preferences of wellness tourists so that services and products can be designed that match customers' expectations. Currently, there seems to be little understanding of how wellness tourists can be categorised, and what benefits they expect to obtain from their wellness tourism experiences. The research presented in this paper helps fill these gaps in the literature. It starts with a brief review of wellness tourism definitions and suggests a typology of wellness tourists consisting of three groups:
beauty spa visitors;
lifestyle resort visitors; and
spiritual retreat visitors.
While previous research has focused on only a single wellness tourism segment, this study examines the benefits sought by three types of wellness tourist.
Literature review
Towards a definition and typology of wellness tourism
Consistency in the literature regarding the concept of wellness tourism is lacking. A confusing array of terms such as "wellness tourism", "health tourism", "health-care tourism", "medical tourism", "holistic tourism", "well-being tourism", and "spa tourism" are used interchangeably, but often describe different concepts. The term "health tourism" can be used as a comprehensive umbrella term that subsumes medical and wellness...