Factors affecting the choice of medical tourism destination: Spain as a host country

Abstract

The objective of this research is to make an empirical analysis of the social, economic, and behavioral factors that influence the decision to travel for medical tourism reasons. A Logit model is estimated to identify significant variables using official microdata provided by the Spanish Ministry. The results describe the most likely medical tourist profile as a non-European, non-employed, non-retired person who uses the internet to plan the trip, whose destination is an accredited medical tourism center and who does not incur any extra expenses on wellness services. This research may raise the probability of attracting tourists seeking medical treatments and increase investment in this growing sector.