Chinese medical tourism: review and research agenda

Abstract

ABSTRACT Medical tourism has witnessed a phenomenal developed pace in recent years, but academic efforts continue to center on a western context and fail to shed light on other emerging medical tourism destinations. This study adopts a hybrid review approach to map out the evolution of Chinese medical tourism studies. A total of 183 articles published in both Chinese and international journals from 2000 to 2020 have been collected to delineate the evolution of Chinese medical tourism research in different dimensions (e.g., publication year, published journals, etc.); analyze the popular research topics of this domain under different disciplinary lens and further identify the research gaps. Findings suggest that existing studies are marketing-oriented and lack robust underpinning of empirical work with appropriate theories. Future research agenda for both researchers and practioners are provided in terms of the facilitation of different stakeholders’ cooperation, understanding of diaspora medical tourists, and the development of traditional Chinese medicine.