Medical, Health and Wellness Tourism Research—A Review of the Literature (1970–2020) and Research Agenda

Lina Zhong, Baolin Deng, Alastair M. Morrison, J. Andres Coca-Stefaniak and Liyu Yang
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Lina Zhong: Institute for Big Data Research in Tourism, School of Tourism Sciences, Beijing International Studies University, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100024, China
Baolin Deng: Institute for Big Data Research in Tourism, School of Tourism Sciences, Beijing International Studies University, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100024, China
Alastair M. Morrison: Greenwich Business School, Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9SL, UK
J. Andres Coca-Stefaniak: Greenwich Business School, Old Royal Naval College, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9SL, UK
Liyu Yang: Institute for Big Data Research in Tourism, School of Tourism Sciences, Beijing International Studies University, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100024, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Medical, health and wellness tourism and travel represent a dynamic and rapidly growing multi-disciplinary economic activity and field of knowledge. This research responds to earlier calls to integrate research on travel medicine and tourism. It critically reviews the literature published on these topics over a 50-year period (1970 to 2020) using CiteSpace software. Some 802 articles were gathered and analyzed from major databases including the Web of Science and Scopus. Markets (demand and behavior), destinations (development and promotion), and development environments (policies and impacts) emerged as the main three research themes in medical-health-wellness tourism. Medical-health-wellness tourism will integrate with other care sectors and become more embedded in policy-making related to sustainable development, especially with regards to quality of life initiatives. A future research agenda for medical-health-tourism is discussed.

Keywords: medical-health-wellness tourism; bibliometric analysis; thematic analysis; research agenda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (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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