Examining Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccine Tourism for International Tourists

Laddawan Kaewkitipong, Charlie Chen and Peter Ractham
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Laddawan Kaewkitipong: Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Charlie Chen: Walker College of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608-2037, USA
Peter Ractham: Centre of Excellence in Operations and Information Management, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on global tourism. Vaccine tourism is a novel health tourism concept, which provides an opportunity for countries with a vaccine surplus to offer medical tourism packages to entice international tourists from countries with vaccine shortages to visit for sightseeing and receive vaccine inoculations. Understanding the factors that influence people to adopt vaccine tourism is one of the strategies that could boost a country’s tourism sector and help to revive the local economy. This study aims to examine the factors influencing the intention to adopt and recommend COVID-19 vaccine tourism among young travelers. A total of 179 questionnaire surveys were collected from traveling-related social media outlets. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed to analyze the data. The results indicate that young tourists in Thailand are inclined to promote vaccine tourism to others. Price value appears to be the most significant influencing factor on intentions to both adopt and recommend vaccine tourism. Additionally, trust in the foreign healthcare system was positively associated with young travelers’ intention to recommend vaccine tourism to others. Theoretically, this research adds to the medical tourism literature, suggesting that, while trust is an important factor influencing the medical tourism decision, it appears to be insignificant in the context of vaccine tourism.

Keywords: medical tourism; vaccine tourism; COVID-19 pandemic; behavioral intention; price value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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