Korea has not only the highest level of medical care staff but also excellent infrastructure in terms of facilities that are second to none in the world. Furthermore, Korea has high level of competitiveness in both quality and cost. Support of the gov...
Korea has not only the highest level of medical care staff but also excellent infrastructure in terms of facilities that are second to none in the world. Furthermore, Korea has high level of competitiveness in both quality and cost. Support of the government, although recognizing such enormous value and importance of this market, is incrementally and gradually becoming active. Therefore, medical tourism in Busan is equipped with all the elements necessary for success.
Key results of this Study are as follow. For measurement of reliability of medical tourism industry, the level of reliability of the measurement tool was verified by using Chronbach's alpha coefficient. Means of activation of medical tourism scored 0.909, while the importance of medical tourism resulted in the score of 0.889, and competitiveness of medical tourism 0.836, thereby satisfying the level of reliability.
Level of recognition of medical tourism illustrated the following. Firstly, on the aspect of level of recognition on medical tourism, the highest response to the questions on the concept of medical tourism was 32.4% for tourism for treatment of illness, while the highest response to the question of area of interest was 26.7% for improvement of physical constitution, and approximately 70% responded that they have heard about medical tourism.
Secondly, on the area of interest amongst the medical tourism areas, the tendency to consider medical tourism as an opportunity experience alternative medical treatment at general hospital rather than at a private medical clinic was relatively high at 17.4%. Furthermore, there was higher tendency to consider medical tourism more positively for people in higher age group, and with regards to the intention to experience medical tourism, higher tendency to consider medical tourism positively was found in people with higher age group. Thirdly, on the level of recognition on countries that offer medical tourism, Thailand, Singapore and Southeast Asia was highest with 35.8%.
Following results were obtained on the issue of means of activation of medical tourism. Firstly, affirmative response was very high on introduction of foreign technology with 88.0%while negative response on the level of activation of medical tourism was very high at 50.6%. Secondly, on the reasons for inadequate activation of medical tourism, lack of personnel for medical tourism was the highest at 81.3%, followed by lack of national policy on medical tourism at 80.7%. Thirdly, negative responses on the question of level of medical tourism of Korea, which included very low and low, were, at 27.3%, higher than affirmative responses, which included very high and high, at 25.6%. In addition, negative responses on the question of level of activation of medical tourism of Busan, which included very low and low, were, at 50.6%, higher than affirmative responses, which included very high and high, at 9.7%, thereby illustrating low level of activation of medical tourism in overall.
The correlation between recognition of format, means of activation and competitiveness of medical tourism of Busan illustrated that the correlation between frequency of overseas travel amongst tourism type and reasons for activation of medical tourism was r=0.021, thereby displaying positive correlation, which the correlation between the overall level of recognition and reasons for activation of medical tourism was in the range of r=0.022~0.538(p<.01), also displaying affirmative correlation. Execution of linear regression analysis in order to find out the factors that impart influence on activation of medical tourism of Busan discovered that importance of medical tourism(B=.508, p<.05) and need for introduction of foreign technology (B=.150, p<.001), which are subordinate factors of means of activation of medical tourism, affects the activation of medical tourism of Busan.
As a task for activation of medical tourism industry in the region of Busan, if convenience of tourists can be pursued through introduction of visa system for medical tourism and specialization of medical tourism is sought after by using Hanryu fever in Asia, then activation of medical tourism industry in Busan, which has location and geographical advantage, appears to be possible. Firstly, specialization in medical technology or changes in medical policy and tourism policy of the government, as well as diversity in the development of program of medical tourism product are necessary for activation of medical tourism industry in the region of Busna. Secondly, there is need to establish cooperative relationship with local hospitals in overseas countries for administration of medical care following treatment in Korea. Market research on the possibility of securing foreign patients centered-around medical institutions in Busan needs to be preceded. Thirdly, regulations on issuance of visa andmedical treatment law must be eased. Even if foreigners wish to receive medical treatment in Korea, medical visa is not issued. This is one of the major reasons why foreign patients are not coming to Korea, in spite of sufficient competitiveness of medical industry in Korea including medical care technology.