From Health Care Migration to Health Tourism, a Case Study of Dental Tourism in Hungary

Transcription

1 From Health Care Migration to Health Tourism, a Case Study of Dental Tourism in Hungary University of Lugano, Switzerland TTRA European Chapter 2010 Conference Budapest, 2010

2 Introduction Dental tourism is an important segment of the growing health tourism industry The challenge is to create tourism income beyond the direct dental revenues Offer tourism experience beyond the medical treatment and market it appropriately From migration (taking advantage of price difference of the treatment) To tourism (combine treatment with tourism experience)

3 Medical Tourism Conell (2006), Rosenmoller (2006) Bookman & Bookman (2007), Horowitz (2007) Literature Review Hungarian dental tourism Bünten (2006), Österle & Delgado (2006, 2007, 2009)

4 Spain 3% Costa Rica 2% Turkey 6% Bulgaria 3% Other 4% Mexico 23% Poland 13% Hungary 16% Thailand 14% India 16% Dental Tourism supply

5 Worth a trip? National Health System Price comparison of dental procedures in Euros in 2008 Hungary Mexico Thailand UK USA Insurance system Crowns Bridges Implants Veneers Fillings Root Canals Source: RevaHealth database

6 Economic drivers Competitive advantage, longstanding reputation of high standard dental services in Hungary, due to education Equal or better quality of service Significantly lower prices Insurance issues European integration Budget airlines

7 Research structure 1. Empirical evidence on the tourism content Structured in-depth interviews Direct evidence Italian patient cost calculation Swiss experiment 2. Destination strategy Identify the potential using the GT-ST-LT approach Sustainable model of dental tourism

8 List of interviews Hungarian Tourism office in Ireland - Main responsible Hungarian Dental Association - Chief Dental Officer Dental clinic - Clinic owner/dentist Dental agent in UK - Dental Travel Agent Dental clinic works with agents abroad - Office manager Dental clinic works agencies abroad - Customer relations manager Dental travel agency, located in UK - Director Partner hotel of a dental clinic - Sales manager

9 Characteristics of an average dental tourist and a dental trip Person Age years old Country of origin Income status Party composition Austria, Great-Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, USA, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands lower part of the middle classes, with a growth towards the higher middle income classes > 50% bring their friends or relatives Trip Seasonality No, pause in Christmas-New Year, August Duration Purpose Mode of transportation Expenditure/ Treatments Accommodation 1 trip: 5-10 days 2 trips: 3-5 days, 5 days 3 trips: 3,3,5 days Cost-value ratio of the dental treatment Secondary: wellness, shopping, sightseeing, entertainment, VFR 90% airplane budget airlines 50-70% cost saving on the dental treatment spent on average implants, bridges, crowns 3 star partner hotels

10 Direct evidence

11 Experiment

12 GET THERE STAY THERE LIVE THERE Patient DENTAL CLINIC Hotel Entertainment Patient Dental Travel Agent DENTAL CLINIC Hotel Entertainment Dental Clinic Patient DENTAL TRAVEL AGENCY Entertainment Hotel

13 Strategies Quality control Cooperation for filtering out low quality clinics Association of Leading Hungarian Dental Clinics Higher involvment of insurance companies Important role of DMO More integration with tourism products wellness tourism When the price advantage gone, repositioning into high pricehigh qulity services

14 Sales Dental + A,D, CH GB, IR, I, F, A, N, S, D, USA,CH, NL GB, IR, I, F, A, N, S, D, USA,CH, NL, Present situation ` Time Start with cross border migration With EU integration tourism starts Increasing competition Decreasing price difference Repositioning in the maturity phase? Future: High price-high quality combined with tourism experience

15 Thank you for your attention!