Malaysian Medical Tourism Industry

The medical tourism industry has been growing drastically. But the challenge of targeting the right segment and maximising limited resources remains a challenge. The main purpose of this study was to develop a patient satisfaction model for the Malaysian medical tourism industry. This research utilised Mixed Methodology with greater emphasis on quantitative; phase 1 being qualitative and phase 2 being quantitative. Over 500 medical tourists all over Malaysia responded to the questionnaire. The main hypothesis was to identify how the various dimensions – medical service quality, customer satisfaction, patient criteria, and hospital criteria – would predict the medical tourists’ behavioural intention. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to perform the analysis; with the aid of AMOS software. The results indicated that there is a relationship between all variables with behavioural intention thus, answering the main objective of this research that is to identify a working model for the industry. The implication of this study suggests that improving customer satisfaction will increase patronage in the medical centres. Thus, reducing operation cost in such competitive environment.