Author(s):
Santos, Eleonora ; Moreira, Jacinta ; Castanho, Rui Alexandre ; Carvalho, Milena ; Martins, Susana
Date: 2022
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/22411
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Subject(s): Competitiveness; Corporate Performance; Medical Tourism; Tourism Management; Competitiveness; Competitiveness; Corporate Performance; Corporate Performance; Medical Tourism; Medical Tourism; Tourism Management; Tourism Management
Description
Since 2008, Government and private hospitals, recognizing the growth potential of specialization in certain medical procedures, started to promote Portugal as a medical tourism destination. As a result, the country is internationally recognized in areas such as oncology, neuroscience, immunology, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine, and as having an internationally accredited modern healthcare network based on innovation in therapeutic processes and products, qualified professionals, and state-of-the-art equipment. However, previous literature suggests that the lack of cooperation between the stakeholders are major obstacles to international performance. Moreover, the pandemic has caused restrictions to international travels, contributing to the decrease of demand for Medical Tourism, Thus, this paper analyses the evolution of the competitiveness of the medical tourism supply during the pandemic. Using an unbalanced panel of 157 private hospitals, collected from SABI for 2011-2020, we calculated 4 performance indicators: Market Share, Return on Investment, Productivity and Talent Retention. Results point to the possession of key factors to ensure the success and development of a consolidated supply of Medical Tourism. The paper makes recommendations on the strategies to increase competitiveness of medical tourism supply.