The Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Tourism

The 2020 novel Covid-19 variant is believed to have first infected humans in Wuhan, China (Shereen, 2019), has since spread globally, and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020. A survey by Research Dive (2020) explored the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global medical tourism market. The results found that the pre-pandemic compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) was projected at 12.4% globally but declined to 8.6% in 2020. Tatum (2020) further reports that the global medical tourism market would likely continue to decline until the end of 2021 siting statistics regarding one of the hospitals in Thailand where the projected number of medical tourists is expected to decline by 28% because of the pandemic. The medical tourism industry has indeed experienced significant adverse effects and its recovery could take up to three years to reach the pre-pandemic levels. However, for the industry to effectively and sustainably recover, countries must employ integrated marketing strategies of not only enhancing their image but also assuring the medical tourists of safety their country.