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Traveling for Medical Tourism - The Diaspora' s Motivation
Authors: VASILE (ILE) FLORENTA LARISA
Number of views: 353
Medical tourism, considered the newest phenomena but, as well, an old activity of travelling on health purposes,
is increasingly more often the subject of articles, seminars or conferences. Considering the factors that
determine the motivation for medical tourism (investments in the health system infrastructure, the international
certification and accreditation for medical services and suppliers, lower costs or better quality of medical
procedures, political and social stability, excellent tourism infrastructure, good reputation regarding clinical
excellence, implementation of the newest medical technologies, highly educated medical personnel, the
insurance policies portability) and taking into account the conclusions of previous exploratory researches in
health behavior, one of the possible segments of medical tourists is Diaspora. This paper highlights the decision
process and preferences of tourists from Diasporas related to medical tourism in Romania. It uses data from a
pilot survey that emphasis the medical travel motivations of Romanian patients resident in EU, Canada and
USA. The first determinant is the cost, but there are several other motivations driving the decision to choose
Romania as a medical tourism destination, such as confidence or cultural affinity.