Hospitality and Destination Marketing\u27s Role in Medical Tourism: A Call for Research

Like business travel, where the primary focus is on business and travel is the simply the conduit by which it is performed, medical tourism is a growing trend in which individuals journey to foreign countries primarily to secure specific medical procedures or health benefits. The medical tourist is a newly defined segment of the travel industry, and while still small in numbers, is growing rapidly. This paper seeks to identify research questions related to the hospitality elements that contribute to the medical tourism experience. The answers to these may aid hoteliers, tourism operations, and visitor bureaus better understand, service and market to the medical traveller. To facilitate the research, six broad categories of medical tourists are identified and four components by which each category may be evaluated are suggested. For each of the components that contribute to the medical travelers\u27 experience, potential research areas are proposed to study this growing phenomenon from a hospitality and tourism perspective

Implementation of Effective Experiential Learning Environments

This paper applies the experiential learning theory of Kolb (1984), the sequential case study learning theory of Knoop (1984), the techniques of effective class role play (Gross Davis, 1993; Pike, 1994) and Rausch\u27s (1999) recommendations for debriefing to a class exercise of graduate Hotel Administration students in teaching the necessity of crisis planning for hotel properties. Starting with the concept of four learning modalities presented by Kolb, we suggest introducing four instructional elements when developing effective experiential learning environments. As judged through qualitative assessment of student participation and the final product produced by the group as a result of its role play, the integration of these theories and techniques produced a dynamic, participative and productive environment. Presented first is a brief explanation of the theories, followed by a rationale for their use in this particular teaching objective, followed by detail of the manner in which the experience was framed, implemented, and discussed. While the role play presented is specifically aimed at demonstrating the critical importance of advance planning in responding to a crisis in a hotel setting, it is believed that the instructional model created herein may be generalized for application in other educational contexts

Medical Travel Facilitator Websites: An Exploratory Study of Web Page Contents and Services Offered to the Prospective Medical Tourist

The growing trend of traveling outside of one\u27s country for medical services, commonly known as “medical tourism” is expected to continue to grow exponentially in the next ten years (Keckley, 2008). With multiple destinations from which to select, and available information representing this type of travel being of variable reliability, many prospective medical travelers turn to the use of a “medical tourism facilitator”, who perform a variety of trip coordination responsibilities for the medical traveler. These medical tourism facilitators, themselves a new phenomenon to support travel to various global regions, may operate within the traveler\u27s home country or the destination region. This study explores the services offered on medical tourism facilitators\u27 websites to the prospective traveler. Through the application of correspondence analysis, it was discovered that differences in both website content and in services offered varied by the continent upon which the facilitator operated. With little yet known as to the motivations of a medical traveler in the selection of a specific destination, these discovered differences may be a first insight into regional differences that may play a role in such destination selection

Manufacture of the ITER Central Solenoid Components

The ITER central solenoid (CS) components are currently being manufactured. This Nb$_{3}$Sn superconducting magnet will provide the magnetic flux swing required to induce up to 15 MA as plasma current. It includes six identical coils, called modules, stacked on top of each other to form a solenoid, enclosed inside a structure split into nine subsets, to provide vertical precompression and mechanical support. High mechanical stresses in materials and high voltages call for the use of structural materials with high strength and toughness and high dielectric strength insulating materials, respectively. The pulsed operation imposes materials with high fatigue strength at cryogenic temperatures. Unlike for the structure, where large existing manufacturing tools were usable, the modules required the construction of a dedicated manufacturing line. A comprehensive qualification programme is performed at the manufacturers before applying procedures for the production of the CS components. The main characteristics of the CS components, their manufacturing routes and the different elements of the qualification programme are described. The overall plan for the manufacture is reported. The status of the first series production components manufactured is presented as well as the planned delivery schedule to the ITER site