Exploring medical tourism service challenges post-Covid-19: Insights and perspectives from immediate healthcare stakeholders for sustainable business continuity

ABSTRACTThis study objective is twofold: First, we investigate the post-Covid-19 medical tourists’ hospitalization procedures. Next, we explore the post-Covid-19 medical tourism service provider’s challenges from the immediate healthcare stakeholders and agencies insights and perspectives. This study utilizes the Business Continuity Management (BCM) model as the grounded theory. Using the qualitative method, ten informants from the senior-ranking medical tourism personnel related to the medical tourism industry were interviewed. The interview data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. This research manifestly revealed: (i) uncertain standard operating procedures; (ii) limited awareness of the availability of treatment among medical tourists; (iii) overreliance on a single medical tourist’s origin; (iv) reluctance rising from risks of travelling are some of the challenges medical tourism service providers faced post-Covid-19 pandemic. This research is among the first to reveal uncertain standard operating procedures, limited awareness of the availability of medical treatment, reliance on a single medical tourist’s origin, reluctance and risks of travelling are the main threats that affect medical tourism service providers.KEYWORDS: Medical tourismpost-COVID-19policymakersqualitativebusiness continuity management AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to express his gratitude to the Universiti Teknologi MARA for awarding the fundamental research grant, which facilitated the development of this manuscript. Universiti Teknologi MARA supports this research under the DUCS grant [600-UITMSEL (PI. 5/4) (005/2022)].Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Declaration of competing interestThe author declares that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.Ethics statementWith the submission of this manuscript, I would like to undertake that all authors of this research paper have directly participated in the planning, execution, or analysis of this study. The contents of this manuscript are not now under consideration for publication elsewhere. In addition, there are no directly related manuscripts or abstracts, published or unpublished, by any authors of this paper. This study instrument was approved by the university’s Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 600-FHOTOUR (PJI5/4)).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Universiti Teknologi MARA: [Grant Number 600-UITMSEL (PI. 5/4) (005/2022)].Notes on contributorsWanita Abd MutalibWanita Abd Mutalib is a postgraduate student in Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. She completed her Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons.) Majoring in Finance from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia in 2006, and earlier took a Diploma in Business Studies from Universiti Teknologi MARA in 2003. Currently, she is the Deputy Director of the Administration Division in Tourism Malaysia, Putrajaya with 11 years experience.Nur Adilah Md ZainNur Adilah Md Zain is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Hotel & Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. She completed her PhD in Tourism at the University of Sydney, Australia in 2020 and her Master in Tourism Management from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia in 2014. She is an active author within the area of tourism destinations, medical tourism and tourism management.Mohd Hafiz HanafiahMohd Hafiz Hanafiah is a Professor at the Faculty of Hotel & Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. He completed his PhD in Hotel and Tourism Management from UiTM in 2016 and his Master in Economics from Universiti Malaya in 2008. He is an active author within the tourism management, tourism economics and tourism destination competitiveness realm.Mohd Salehuddin Mohd ZahariMohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari is a Professor at the Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. He obtained his PhD in Hospitality Management from Lincoln University, New Zealand. He is an active researcher in the gastronomy tourism area.Muhammad Aliff AsyraffMuhammad Aliff Asyraff holds the position of Lecturer within the Faculty of Hotel & Tourism Management at Universiti Teknologi MARA. He successfully attained his MSc in Tourism Management in 2014 and completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2022, specializing in the field of social media utilization in the context of tourism. Dr Asyraff's primary research focus centres on the domains of tourism management and marketing.