MEDIA COMMUNICATION IN MEDICAL TOURISM

Анотація

Medical tourism is a term commonly used to refer to the phenomenon of people travelling from their resident country to another with the expressed purpose of accessing medical treatment. It is a particular form of patient mobility, where patients travel across borders or to overseas destination to receive treatments including fertility, cosmetic, dental, transplantation and elective surgery. There has been much media coverage-of individual patients, of unusual places, of life-saving and life-changing treatments, and medical mishaps and the risks travellers face, spurring academic interest. Medical tourism is a huge and booming industry spanning the entire globe. In 2020, the value of the global health tourism sector was around US$54 billion, but by 2027 it is expected to almost quadruple in size to US$207 billion. The efficacy of media communication in the context of medical tourism necessitates a multifaceted, patient-centered approach that utilizes digital technologies, fosters transparency, and establishes trust through comprehensive, empathetic storytelling. The following media communication strategies have been identified as integral to the development of a comprehensive strategic communication framework for the medical tourism industry: website development, the creation of multilingual interfaces, the integration of mobile-responsive design, the provision of comprehensive treatment information, and the facilitation of virtual hospital tours.