H3619C: Overview of Medical and Wellness Tourism after the 2020 Pandemic: Wellness Lifestyle and Spa Operations Management Coursework, RP, Singapore

Assignment Title

Overview of Medical and Wellness Tourism after the 2020 Pandemic – Country Name

Assignment Objectives

This is an individual assignment in the form of a typed report using the template provided in Appendix 1 (Cover Page Report and Plagiarism Declaration Template).

This assignment requires you to research, analyze and make recommendations on the following:

The impact of Covid-19 on the selected destination and how the companies are coping or adapting to the current challenges. The report should include internal and external factors affecting their businesses at this time.

Recommend measures that selected medical tourism companies can take to attract a new segment of medical or wellness travelers which will enhance current range of services and facilities as well as continue to position the company’s market leadership in the Wellness and Tourism Industry.

Recommend how wellness tourism companies can explore current wellness trends to improve their overall business based on their marketing strategy.

You are required to conduct a research via the internet and to use your student resources to write your report. Where appropriate, you are required to show evidences using tables, diagramsor articles, etc. in your submission of the assignment in the appendix.

In this analysis, you need to apply the concepts learnt from lesson 1 to 17on Medical andWellness Tourism.

You are required to choose and analyse ONE(1) destinationfrom the list belowand answer ALLthe questions listed.

Select any ONE (1) of the following countries that offer wellness andmedical tourism and answer all the questions below in your coursework assessment:

1. Thailand
2. China
3. Dubai
4. Germany

Background

Medical tourism has been burgeoning in the last decade, with major players consolidating strategies to form strong networks for international travel. The global medical tourism market generated more than $58.6 billion in 2018, with a strong projection to hit $142.2 billion by 2026. Rising awareness of quality and more affordable healthcare options in other destinations and the guarantee of a terrific patient care experience perked up by congenial environment and beautiful tourist attractions were the key drivers of the flourishing business.

In Asia, countries like Thailand, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea became favourite healthcare destinations for millions of Americans seeking quality and affordable dental care, cosmetic surgeries, elective orthopaedic procedures, and bariatric surgeries. European countries including France, Germany, and Poland swiftly leveraged key healthcare travel drivers to model thriving medical tourism markets that garnered millions of dollars in annual revenue for them. The momentum soon spread to the middle east, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia establishing centres of excellence and specialist expertise to compete in the global health tourism market. But the coronavirus pandemic hit the brakes on the industry’s expansion. With a record decline in airline demand, closure and shut down of medical tourism agencies and widespread financial hardships that have wrecked many industry key players, medical tourism came to a screeching halt.

During the pandemic, almost all international flights were cancelled. Although there has been a slow recovery in air flight demand since coronavirus restrictions were gradually lifted, demand still remains abysmally low. All of these come as many governments began to adopt COVID-19 immunity passports as a pre-requisite for entry into their countries in the post-COVID-19 era. Countries such as Chile, Germany, and the United Kingdom have considered using these certificates to stem influx of coronavirus-infected patients into their countries. However, not only do these certificates wrongly determine who’s protected from a second infection, it may pose a serious barrier to medical travel when air travel fully reopens.

In the midst of these, many healthcare providers have suspended elective procedures, the money maker in the medical travel business, with many top medical tourism centres struggling to stay afloat. One of Thailand’s top healthcare providers for medical tourists, Bumrungrad Hospital reported a 93.87% decline in revenue in the second quarter of this year, dropping from 724.99 million baht ($23.2 million) during the same period last year to 44.43 ($1.4 million). The hospital, which has more than 50% of its patient base from other countries, estimates that revenue would fall by 46% as international borders remain largely shuttered.