Exploring the Opportunities for Marketing Turkish Medical Tourism in the U.S.
Exploring the Opportunities for Marketing Turkish Medical Tourism in the U.S.
Prepared by
Taylor Lentz
Trey Stablein
Carie Weinman
Madeline Dailey
Joseph Teeple
Nick Orekoya
MBA Students
Global Marketing Class Project
Supervised by
Musa Pinar, Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing
Paul H. Brandt Professor of Business
College of Business Administration
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, IN USA
Sponsored and prepared for:
Dr. Sinan Ibiş, Specialist
President of Turkish Medical Tourism Association
Turkish Medical Tourism Association
Ankara, Turkey
March 2022
Executive Summary
Health expenditures in developing countries continuously increase, so people are motivated and willing to travel to countries where they will pay less for their medical wants and needs. As a result, medical tourism has become a globally popular and rapidly growing trend, where it is expected to reach revenue of $192.9 billion, growing at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) 29.29% during 2020-2026. There are several countries in Asian Pacific region and Latin America that have taken advantage of the medical tourism market and have done a good job of promoting their services to residents of western countries. The countries doing the best in medical tourism are Asian countries, such as Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and India. Also, Latin American countries, such as Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, have had a large focus on expanding their healthcare infrastructure capabilities to draw more patients from North America.
Turkey has become a popular and attractive destination for medical tourism due to the high quality of service provided at an affordable cost, as well as providing tourist attractions of history, culture, and favorable climate. This offers two in one opportunity of medical care and tourism benefits to attract medical tourists from the U.S. Turkey’s strengths in medical tourism are low costs, attractiveness of general tourism, offering health services by using the latest medical technology, wide transportation infrastructure, and the accredited health facilities. Also, co-operations among public and private sector organizations, such as the support of Turkish Airlines, offer extra effort and remarkable incentives to support health tourism. In this regard, in targeting the U.S. market, Turkish airlines have direct flights from several U.S. cities to Istanbul which makes it easy for Americans to travel to Turkey for medical treatments.
As one of the top medical tourism destinations in the world, Turkey could provide two main categories of medical opportunities: a) Medical treatments in various areas and b) Spa and thermal treatments for chronic health issues, especially for elderly patients. Regarding the spa and thermal tourism, Turkey offers unique opportunities to expand and grow the health/medical tourism by attracting people with chronic medical issues to be treated with the benefits of having cultural experiences. The three major advantages of medical tourism in Turkey for marketing and promoting are: affordable pricing, high quality of care, and immediate access without waiting for world-class treatment.
To develop marketing strategies, it is important to understand potential patient’s wants and needs when it comes to medical tourism. Utilizing such information, Turkey could design a marketing strategy that includes the right offer of medical treatment, at the right price and at the right place in Turkey that are promoted with the right way using traditional media and social media to reach the target market to convey high quality services with high credibility and trust to have a successful medical tourism. When promoting Turkish medical tourism, digital marketing and social media could give the medical tourism sector a chance to advertise and promote with a much smaller budget. This also provides much more accurate user information and behavior tracking with the ability to continually optimize marketing campaigns in real-time. In fact, promoting Turkish medical tourism through digital platforms will provide an opportunity to reach global audiences to take advantage of growing the world medical tourism market.
Introduction
Medical tourism has become a globally popular and rapidly growing trend. As health expenditures in developing countries continuously increase, people are more motivated to travel to countries where they will pay less for their medical wants and needs. This increasing growth in medical tourism has attracted the attention of many countries, where various strategies are being developed to have a share in the medical tourism market.
Over the past few decades, Turkey has become a popular and attractive country for medical tourism due to the high quality of service provided at an affordable cost, along with touristic advantages such as history and culture, as well as favorable climate. In a way, this offers two in one opportunity for medical care and tourism benefits. Turkey does not focus on medical tourism alone, but also health tourism for foreign patients, creating a competitive advantage for medical tourism with a strong emphasis on tourism experience (Omay & Cengiz, 2013). Turkey offers a great opportunity for people to take care of their medical needs while enjoying a vacation in one of the historic or southwestern coastal cities. In the following analysis, Turkey’s position is evaluated to view the dimensions of customer-perceived value in the context of medical tourism and the opportunities in marketing and promoting Turkish medical tourism in the U.S.
Overall Outlook and Trends of World Medical Health Tourism
Health/medical tourism is categorized into illness prevention tourism, in which tourism takes place for wellness purposes as well as specific illness prevention, and medical tourism. Tourism improves the health and well-being of individuals where quality-of-life/well-being and health are reciprocally related terms, as to have physical health, one should also have psychological well-being and vice versa (Genc, 2012). The World Health Organization (2021) states that health is “a complete state of mental, physical and social well-being.” Medical tourism is accessed for the “tourist” to receive medical intervention for ongoing physiological issues and enhance quality of life through interventions. The term was created to attract Westerners to non-western countries to receive medical care.
Globally, medical tourism is on the rise and there are several reasons that contribute to this growth in popularity. These reasons are as follows. First, after World War II, students from around the world went to Western countries to study medicine (Cohen, 2012). Many of these students stayed in Western countries to gain more experience and finish training until opportunities arose in their home countries alongside improved conditions to practice. As the demand for advanced health care rose in countries such as India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, Mexico, etc., there has been an emergence of high-quality medical hubs. Patients in these medical centers include not only the domestic population but patients from neighboring countries and Western countries, ultimately opening the world up to medical tourism.
Second, one of the main reasons for patients outsourcing medical services is for financial benefits. The cost of treatment in medical tourist locations is significantly lower for tourists (Genc, 2012). This occurs because of lower wages paid to physicians, nurses, and other health care workers in comparison to Western hospitals and medical centers, as well as lower operating costs. Third, in addition to lower wages, the medical centers in tourist destinations utilize the current medical technology and are held to a high standard with high quality treatment. These factors contribute to the competitive advantage these medical tourist destinations have over Western counterparts. Fourth, it is also important to note on the premise of finances that many people do not have health insurance. For those who are uninsured, significant decreases in cost can be motivation for outsourcing medical procedures. Money, however, is not the only reason there has been an increase in medical tourism; urgency is another factor. Finally, expected wait times for certain treatments and procedures can be substantially long in some countries while traveling to another country can result in decreased waiting times. With all of these factors in mind, perhaps the most obvious but forgotten is the underlying factor of the chance to travel to another country. Some of the surgeries are so intense that for patients, getting the opportunity to possibly enjoy a mini “vacation” is a plus (Yeginsu, 2021).
These market trends are forecasted to continue contributing to the success of global medical tourism through 2027 (Graphical Research, 2021). As the popularity of medical tourism rises, it has potential to eventually be integrated into the medical system of Western countries and have positive effects on the future population (Cohen, 2012). According to the market research report by IMARC (2021), increased awareness of the advanced medical facilities in other countries available to consumers and the implementation of favorable government policies advancing medical infrastructures is going to be in favor of this global tourism market growth. Additionally, the increasing research and development activities surrounding the market is promising. A report by Arizton (2021) shows that global medical tourism is expected to grow at the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 29.29% from 2021-2026, and its size to reach revenue of $192.91 billion by 2026. The same report indicates that the dominant medical treatments for medical tourism are cosmetic surveys, cardiac surgery, orthopedic treatment, dentistry, fertility treatment and organ transplants (Arizton, 2021). With this growth comes the question whether it will be sustainable as prices could increase on awareness of growing demands which has already occurred in popular hubs (Cohen, 2012).
Exhibit 1: Global Medical Tourism Market Size 2016-2020, 2027 forecast (Statista, 2021)
Major Competitors in Medical/Health Tourism
There are more than forty countries in the Asia Pacific region, Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and other regions that are serving millions of health tourists annually for cosmetic surgery, cardiac surgery, dentistry, orthopedic surgery, and other medical treatments (Arizton, 2021). These countries have been taking advantage of the medical tourism market and have done a good job of promoting their services to residents of western countries. There are many different benefits that result from participating in medical tourism, but there are a few countries that are doing a little bit better than the rest. Many different areas of the world participating in medical tourism have different target markets they hope to become consumers.
Upon further research, it is evident that the countries doing the best in medical tourism are Asian countries, such as Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and India. These countries have been focusing on this industry since the Asian financial crisis in 1997 (Beladi, 2017). They were seeking ways to increase foreign exchange to improve economic conditions and found that medical tourism had a lot of opportunity to do so (Beladi, 2017). Credibility and quality of service in these countries are improving as well. For example, Singapore ranks amongst the top in state-of-the-art facilities and great service that create a good environment for foreign residents to seek out for their medical treatment. Thailand and Malaysia have been the leaders in medical tourism of Asian countries for quite a few years now. The industry has contributed a lot to the growth of their GDP’s and is creating a competitive advantage in credibility for these two countries. Thailand, Malaysia, and India have implemented policies to attract foreign residents to their country for medical treatment and have been established as “world-class hubs” for medical treatment (Beladi, 2017).
India is one of the cheaper countries to receive medical treatment, and people go for a variety of health care needs, including cancer treatments, transplants, and cardiac surgery (Suri, 2019). Along with the cost effectiveness, the doctors are highly credible in India as well. Many times, physicians practicing in India received their degrees and professional training in western countries such as the United States or Great Britain. India also offers different kinds of medical and therapy treatments, such as Ayurveda and Unani, that have been passed down throughout many years that people will seek out to have done for themselves. India was at a disadvantage in the early years of the medical tourism industry expansion largely due to the lack of credibility they had from foreign national officials. Many people questioned the quality of services and facilities, but India’s medical services have since been improved and is becoming a top spot to travel to.
Thailand has done a phenomenal job in the medical tourism industry as well. They have a lot to offer in terms of quality of service and actual tourist advantages as well. Bumrungrad, a large hospital located in Bangkok, is one of the largest hospitals in Thailand and the most highly rated destination for medical tourism. People who have been there say it's more like a shopping mall or five-star hotel (Finch, 2014). Thailand, Singapore, and India made up 80 percent of the world’s medical tourism destinations in 2014, and Thailand alone accounted for half of that (Finch, 2014).
Countries that offer the premium packages for their service and their stay have a major competitive advantage over the rest of the countries who don’t. Cost effectiveness is one of the main drivers of medical tourism, and countries that can give that, along with other added value, such as tourist experiences, are going to draw more people. Thailand offers a heart bypass and an entire week's stay for around $19,000, which compares to a whopping $80,000 for the same surgery in the United States (Finch, 2014). Turkey offers different levels of premium pricing packages for certain medical procedures that include pre-op consultation, the cost of surgery, post-op check-ups, overnight stays at a five-star hotel, transportation, and site-seeing. All of this is still cheaper than getting the operation done for someone who is not insured in the United States.
Outside of Asian countries, there are other regions of the world who are doing well in medical tourism as well. Latin American countries, such as Brazil and Mexico, have had a large focus on expanding their healthcare infrastructure capabilities to draw more patients from North America (Beladi, 2017). This could be a market that takes off if they have the right resources to support it, as traveling to Latin American countries would be looked at more as a vacation and might entice more people to choose that location for medical help over others. Not only does the destination itself have a lot to offer, but it is much more convenient and easier for residents of North America to travel there. There are also some Eastern European countries that have done a good job of targeting western European residents (Beladi, 2017).
Canada is a country that could have a lot more of a competitive advantage than they currently have. Their facilities, staff, and quality of service should elevate them above the rest, especially because it is cheaper to get operations there as compared to their neighbors to the south. However, there are incredibly long wait times in Canada for people to get their emergent and non-emergent surgeries. The average wait time for Canadians to get their operations is 9.4 weeks from the time of their first appointment with a surgeon. Canada could have a large market of medical tourists from the United States due to ease of travel, inviting tourist experiences, and lower cost, but the timely access to their services sets them very far back in the industry.
The main competitive advantage for any country participating in medical tourism, everything else aside, is going to be the price differences and cost effectiveness. In the United States, a coronary bypass surgery is $113,000 for someone who does not have good coverage. Places like Malaysia and India can do the same operation for $10,000 (Al-Lamki L, 2011). In Thailand, a spinal fusion costs $7,000 where the same operation is nearly $90,000 in the United States. These are just a few examples of the cost savings that can be obtained from participating in medical tourism (Finch, 2014).
Opportunities, Challenges and Barriers
Over the years, medical tourism has evolved from people in developing countries traveling to developed countries to receive quality healthcare services to now people in developed countries traveling to developing ones to achieve significant cost savings or avoid long wait times. As the costs of healthcare services and wait time for medical treatment increase, patients in developed countries seek medical treatment in overseas countries. In recent years, Turkey has gained much experience and been deemed a forerunner in health tourism (Omay, and Cengiz, 2013). In the following analysis, Turkish medical tourism and customer’s value chain is analyzed to show how traveling to Turkey for medical needs can provide cost advantages and add value to the customer's value chain.
To take advantage of the potential medical tourism opportunities, the above information indicates that for the health/medical tourism to be successful and grow, the following factors are essential. 1) quality and trustable of medical treatment, 2) internationally recognized certification of doctors, medical staff, clinics, and hospitals to build credibility and trust, 3) cost effectiveness or economic treatment procedures and government supports in some areas, including special discounts from Turkish Airlines, 4) practically no wait time for the urgent and critical medical treatments, 5) availability of the English-speaking doctors and medical staff, and 5) availability of other tourism activities and attraction. The biggest challenges could be convincing the potential patients they would receive high-quality treatment in a foreign country.
SWOT Analysis - Turkish Medical Tourism
Strengths
Low costs, attractiveness of general tourism, wide transportation infrastructure, and a high number of accredited health facilities have been identified as Turkey’s strengths in the medical tourism factor (Cavmak, 2019). With a considerable amount of JCI (Joint Commission International)-accredited health facilities, medical tourists to Turkey are assured of high-quality infrastructure and services by these hospitals and their medical staff. Turkey also has an established medical training system where an attractive gradual improvement can be seen in health indicators.
Co-operations among public and private sector organizations, such as the support of Turkish Airlines, are quite remarkable efforts to support health tourism (Omay & Cengiz, 2013). In fact, Turkish airlines have direct flights from several U.S. cities to Istanbul. This makes it easier for patients and their families to travel to Turkey. In addition, Turkey is ranked 3rd for the “highest number of JCI accredited hospitals in the world” and has close to 60 high qualified medical faculties, training not only Turkish students, but also foreign medical students. Being in the crossroad between Europe and Asia, near the regional headquarters and manufacturing facilities of major pharmaceutical companies, and reliable supply of blood provided by the Turkish Red Crescent (which is also accredited by JCI) are among the advantages of the Turkish health tourism industry.
Turkey provides relatively inexpensive health care services compared to Western European countries like the UK, Ireland, Austria, as well as the U.S. For example, when thinking about hair transplants, Turkey and the USA are at the top of the list, though Turkey’s prices are significantly lower with the same quality. These costs are often all out of pocket as most insurance companies consider hair transplant and breast augmentation as a cosmetic procedure.
Weaknesses
Though Turkey is a popular destination for international tourists, there is a mismatch between the number of international tourist arrivals and international tourism receipt (Omay, E., Cengiz, E. 2013). This has led to a long-disputed investigation whether Turkey has been following the true strategies and policies for the tourism industry. Loh (2014) stated that the legal responsibility to be shared among patients, health insurance agencies, and foreign healthcare service providers in medical tourism was not clearly defined. Therefore, legal issues related to patient safety and malpractice were the most critical issues for medical tourism.
Most health institutions in Turkey today lack the necessary infrastructure to ensure that records are kept electronically (Omay & Cengiz, 2013). The absence of substantial and standard criteria at the stages involving definitions, terminology, coding, function, control, and evaluation leaves no chance for other institutions to utilize and make comparisons of the collected data and information. Therefore, insufficient, and inaccurate flow of information across the provincial organization as well as the absence of a system of feedback to enable data check, the reliability and accuracy of collected data remains a question. In addition, the doctors and medical staff who cannot speak good English would face difficulty communicating with the patients from the United States, as well as from other countries. This could be a very significant competitive disadvantage against competing countries (i.e., India) where doctors and medical staff speak English well. To improve the competitiveness of Turkish medical tourism, the English language matter must be addressed, especially for American patients.
Opportunities
Medical tourism provides an opportunity for physicians to elevate their skill level and practice so that they can compete with the rest of the world. An expanded medical tourism sector could motivate Turkey’s healthcare providers to upgrade their skills and practice which, in turn, could benefit local patients as well. The growth of medical tourism and proposed expansion, in Turkey specifically, could incentivize more hospitals and clinics seeking to treat international patients to obtain internationally recognized facility accreditation (e.g. Joint Commission International).
There is also a need for greater English-language training among health workers due to the anticipated impact of growth in the medical tourism sector. Providing medical services in English may encourage international tourists to seek treatment in Turkey while vacationing. More emphasis on learning English should be given by medical professionals as it is already hard for a patient to make the decision to go to a country they have never been to, with a physician they have never seen, in a country where their native language isn’t spoken. Having a fluent conversation with a patient will in some way lower the stress of all the involved parties.
The impact of an expanded inbound medical tourism sector on health human resources could create the need for healthcare providers to meet international standards, or to become certified by international regulating bodies. Though, this ensures that the health services provided to medical tourists are in line or exceed other competing medical tourism destinations in terms of quality and health outcomes offered by the certified doctors, staff, and hospitals (Omay & Cengiz, (2013). As international patients seek out clinics that have international accreditations, and that such accreditations would therefore be necessary for Turkey to position its medical tourism sector regionally and internationally.
Threats
When looking at the national health expenditure on a world scale, it is possible to see that the shares allocated in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for health care is quite low. One factor leading to problems in hospital costs is wrong patient referral habits resulting from the personal attitude and behaviors of physicians. The rate of social costs such as work power and economic loss arising from incorrect referral practices is quite high.
Numerous doctors are leaving Turkey to pursue careers abroad, which some medical professionals warn could lead to a public health crisis. The numbers leaving, described as “horrific” by the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), reflect deep-seated worries over job security. Layoffs and other measures such as mandatory security checks, along with preexisting problems like discrimination against some groups, such as ethnic minorities, and verbal and physical violence against healthcare professionals. This has helped fuel the brain drain to countries like Germany, which is despite the bureaucratic obstacles facing physicians who leave for the security of the EU. The number of doctors requesting their professional records in preparation for seeking work abroad has increased 17 times in the last seven years. While just 59 doctors submitted their applications in 2012, the figure reached 1047 in 2019 (Karatabanoglu, 2020).
Another point to consider is that in most parts of the world, patients have the opportunity to select their doctors. However, in Turkey, the Minister of Turkey implements a procedure that allows and certifies only 2.45% of the Turkish health organizations to be in the medical tourism business, which creates a restriction or limitation for foreign patients to choose their doctors for their desired treatment. This procedure contradicts the initiatives of the Turkish Government to support and promote health tourism in Turkey. Moreover, such a restricting system may cause medical tourists not to prefer Turkey for their medical treatment destination, this may also lead to, even promote the growth of illegal or underground medical tourism that create quality issues, which could affect Turkey’s brand image as a medical tourism destination.
Marketing/Promoting Turkish Medical/Health Tourism
In a study by Chaulagain, Pizam and Wang (2021) that tested theoretical models to predict Americans’ intention to engage in medical tourism noted that Americans have growing openness toward traveling internationally for health care services. They also identified various reasons for the rising cost of healthcare in the United States. It appears that there is a specific attention directed to the aging American population aged 65 and older, which is estimated to reach 87 million by the year 2050 (US Census Bureau 2015). Chaulagain et al. (2021) indicate that long wait times specifically for non-priority procedures are inspiring more Americans every year to consider treatment abroad. America’s growing population of older and elderly persons provides a very compelling opportunity for the Turkish health system.
University of Sydney Professor John Connell shares that “medical tourism has grown dramatically in recent years primarily because of the high costs of treatment in rich world countries, long waiting lists (for what is not always seen institutionally as priority surgery), the relative affordability of international air travel and favorable economic exchange rates, and the aging of the often-affluent post-war baby-boom generation” (Connell, 2006). Also, older Americans with less urgent, more cosmetic desires might find Turkey to be a perfect opportunity that meets their needs and budget. A November 2017 article in “The Saudi Gazette” noted the increasing number of patients from the Middle East who were attracted to Turkey for “hair transplantation and eye surgeries and treatments, such as Lasik surgery and lens replacements, which are very popular in Istanbul and Kusadasi” (Saudi Gazette, 2017).
Turkey provides an intriguing option for older Americans; many of whom are likely to find Medicare or private insurance unwilling to cover their medical wants. While their current options are to either surrender to the final decision of their health provider or enter a waiting list in the States, and ultimately dip into their savings to pay for an expensive procedure. For these patients, medical tourism in Turkey represents a unique method and opportunity of experiencing an historic culture while receiving quality and proven treatment. This arrangement is not particularly new for Turkey, as Professor Murat Dizbay at Gazi University Hospital in Ankara explains, “Spa and thermal facilities in the country have been attracting people from all around the world for thousands of years” (Nur Duz, 2021). In this regard, the spa and thermal tourism could provide a unique opportunity to expand and grow the Turkish health tourism to attract a segment of people with chronic medical issues to be treated with the benefits of having cultural experiences. This is especially a great opportunity for Turkey, given their rich and diverse thermal resources (Turkey Medicals, 2021).
In his study analyzing the effects of medical tourism on Germans seeking treatment in Turkey, Genc (2018) noted non-intentional effects. He observed that the travel itself non-deliberately provided an improvement in health and psychological well-being, indicating “these travels have the potential to enhance the Quality of Life (QOL) of individuals via psychological means” (Genc, 2018). With many U.S. baby-boomers craving travel in the latter portion of their lives, Turkey represents an exceptional opportunity to achieve the proverbial “killing of two birds with one stone” – basking in the coastal climate of Turkey and receiving top-notch health care at a fraction of the cost otherwise paid in the United States. This favorable coastal climate could also offer an excellent opportunity for Turkey to attract older Americans to spend their golden years in an older-friendly climate to experience and enjoy the culture and nature Turkey offers, which improves the quality of their life. In addition, as mentioned above, the spa and thermal treatment opportunities could be added as an option for aging Americans. Given the cost advantage of living in the favorable climate of Turkey, this could be an attractive opportunity for aging Americans to explore and take advantage of it. We could add some more things.
Marketing Promotion Strategy
The marketing promotion strategy should be broken down into 4 parts. First, there should be a focus on the product. Turkish medical tourism is considered a service and is particularly interesting as multiple services are being offered. This is something that should be highlighted within the marketing promotion strategy. There are many moving pieces that go into both the medical and travel industry. To market the services offered the ministers should focus on joint ventures and strategic alliances. It will be important that they are able to work with major corporations and key players to market themselves better in both industries. Customers will also be more attracted to the services offered because of having a strong medical tourism brand and brand equity. Marketing using popular brand names within both industries will attract potential customers. A good example of a joint venture within marketing would be Turkish airlines. This is one of the largest airline companies in the world and is well known in the travel industry. Companies within the industry have already taken advantage of their brand equity, making it a valuable asset. Spot Blue (2021) states in an article titled, Medical Tourism in Turkey Boosted by Government Incentives that Turkish Airlines heavily supports the medical tourism industry. Marketing both their product (airlines) and medical tourism services the industry could see major profits (Spot Blue, 2021).
Price is no doubt a major contributor to success in promotion strategies. Marketing services are often expensive, so there is no way around the cost of this service, which will not be cheap. According to Forbes (2021), Turkish Airlines did over $6.6 billion in sales in 2021. In addition to this, Turkey Medicals (2021) states that the Turkish medical tourism industry made over $12 billion in revenue. Clearly, the services provided are combining two of the most lucrative and expensive industries. For the market plan, it would not be wise to focus on the total price. To avoid scaring customers away by a large total price the marketing strategy should be focused on comparison pricing. This marketing strategy is used by various travel agencies today and puts the power of buying back into the consumer’s hand.
A good marketing strategy should divide the total costs into sections. A consumer should be able to compare bundled/package prices to the unbundled prices of flights, medical expenses, hotels, and lodging, etc., as well as prices of other competitors and choose the best option in their eyes. It is important that the pricing should be transparent without any hidden costs to create any questions about the price the patients pay. This, we believe, should build credibility and trust for Turkish medical tourism, which is essential for the long-term sustainability of Turkish medical tourism. The lower prices by section will not overwhelm the consumers and give a competitive advantage within the marketing system. The biggest issue in the cost stage will be achieving these low and competitive prices. To compete on the big playing field, overall, it would be efficient and a wise strategy to create a joint venture or strategic alliance within the industry with already well-known businesses. An established relationship with these companies could lead to more economical prices as well as connections on the deeper, emotional level.
Location can be another large selling point within the marketing strategy. Turkey as a country has a very strategic location to reach most target markets, which is a significant marketable advantage in the travel and health industries. According to Cheney (2016), “Turkey is an insanely beautiful country. Surrounded by water on three sides, the coasts of Turkey are some of the most beautiful in the world. With crystal clear waters, fantastic beaches, and quaint fishing villages, the Turkish coast is one of the most pristine in the world.” It would be extremely beneficial to create a marketing plan that is centered on not only high-quality medical treatments, but also historic places with many unique cultural offerings and natural beauty and very favorable weather that Turkey offers as a medical tourism destination. When choosing a place strategy, it plays a fundamental role in the marketing strategy. It outlines how and where a company will place its products and services, and this should be done to gain both customers and market share. Since we are not creating a product to go into a store, it is beneficial to use hybrid channels to reach customers about the medical tourism business, which will result in increased market coverage, possible lower channel cost, and lastly more customized selling to the individual. Customers can surf the web or talk to a representative on the phone to find out more about medical tourism or purchase a ticket.
Promotion strategies are essential to industries, making the masses aware of the products and services that are offered and their benefits. The problem is that many other brands are offering similar services of medical tourism, so it is best to employ critical thinking strategies to present Turkey competitive advantages covered in this report so that the ministers will be able to achieve their goals. The best promotion strategies are to first create an awareness of Turkish medical tourism, next to develop an interest and preference for various medical services Turkey offers based on the strategic advantages that would create a demand for these various medical services and touristic attractions. We can promote through social media, television, and radio to showcase the opportunities that Turkey has to offer through medical tourism and historical cultural attractions that will hopefully start to build an interest in Turkish Medical tourism. Over 3.6 billion people use social media, which makes it a great place to start and share promotional content (Statista, 2021). This can involve use of infographics, videos on YouTube, and even paid ads. Lastly, word of mouth is always a great way to promote goods and services. Georgiev (2021) states that 92% of people would rather trust a product or service recommendation from a friend than any other form of marketing. Given the power of word of mouth (WOM) in influencing consumer decisions (Georgiev, 2021; Kotler, Keller, & Chernev, 2022), Turkish medical tourism could utilize the influencer strategy through appropriate social media to create an awareness about the benefits of their medical tourism. This is essential to keep in mind to keep customers happy and coming back.
Recommendations to Market Turkish Medical Tourism in the U.S.
Turkey is among the top 10 medical tourism destinations in the world. In 2017, Turkey hosted 700,000 visitors for medical tourism (Turkey Medicals, 2021). There are three major advantages of medical tourism in Turkey to market and promote: affordable pricing, high quality of care, and immediate access to world-class treatment. To set up marketing strategies, it is important to understand potential patient’s wants and needs when it comes to medical tourism. In the following conceptualized value chain of an international patient, focusing on getting information to the patient at the “Query” step is key. In doing this, it is important to market Turkey’s hospitality and cost advantages to gain interest.
Source: Porter Acharyulu, G. R., & Reddy, B. K. (2004). Hospital logistics strategy for medical tourism. Supply Chain Seminar: An International Conference on Logistics. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
It is important to understand patient motivation, whether it is to travel internationally for medical care, avoid long wait times in the U.S, save money on expensive surgeries, or to possibly access new procedures and medication that are approved in Turkey that are not yet readily available in the U.S. Concerning the medical procedures, Turkey offers two main categories of medical opportunities: a) Medical treatments in areas such as: plastic and reconstructive surgery, eye/ophthalmology, and dentistry, and b) spa and thermal treatments for chronic health issues, especially for elderly patients Next would be to explore a potential target audience who will be utilizing medical services, in order to set up a marketing plan around these types of people. After finding a target market, it's important to analyze the resources they use such as magazines they are subscribed to, blogs they read, and the social media groups they are a part of.
Once the motivations of the target audience are identified, digital marketing may be used to speak to their specific needs. This requires identifying the social media tools that could reach the identified target market and should have credibility among the target market. The next step in promoting Turkish medical tourism is helping potential patients find Turkish doctors, hospitals, clinics, and other medical practice, making it easy to find their websites or social media platforms. Finding out where ideal patients congregate online and post relevant information to speak to their needs. For example, doing guest blog posts on popular websites in the medical industry where one can also add a link to visit Turkish medical websites as well. Once a potential patient reads the guest blog post, they can click on the link to a website they’re interested in, allowing for more exposure to Turkish medical tourism. Another example is to list Turkish medical companies, physicians, and practices on industry directories so that when patients go to directories, they are looking for medical tourism services and possibly traveling abroad for healthcare, being on that directory will create familiarity for the patient. The more they see Turkish medical tourism pop up, the higher chance they will look more into it.
Now that the world is more connected through the internet, marketing digitally through websites is essential. A way to ensure that getting a website on the first page of google, or any other major search engine to make sure the company is seen when searching for medical tourism is called search engine optimization. This concept drives content to the people who are being targeted online which will allow promotion of more trips and help more people through medical tourism. For example, a medical tourist in the U.S will target a phrase often used in the U.S, like “medical treatment outside U.S” and from there, through certain techniques, it can be found out how often the phrase is used per month, per week, and per day to find out if it’s worth targeting that phrase.
From this point, promoting Turkish medical tourism in the U.S goes into patient education, which is ensuring the patient is aware of the location they are going to, giving them awareness on the healthcare provider and the facility they are treated at. Another major step in promoting Turkish medical tourism would be partnerships. It is important to choose the right partner such as a health care provider. This includes tapping into partnerships that will benefit mutually and financially. Partnering with self-funded employers and working with insurance companies that can elevate patient referrals, which in turn benefits the medical tourism facilitator business.
When promoting on the web, it is important to state how beneficial medical tourism could be and share facts about businesses and bring awareness to Turkey’s significant cost savings compared to other countries. Many procedures in Turkey cost 50% to 70% less than the same procedures in the European Union and United States. Turkey is in a central location, at most 3 hours from major cities in Europe and the Middle East. Turkey has visa-free access to over 70 countries. Turkish Airlines is considered one of the biggest airlines in the world, flying to over 100 countries and 200 international locations. It has a large spread flight network of Turkish Airlines that enables patients from all around the world to have very easy and economical transportation.
Specialized medical and administrative staff and multi-disciplinary structure, giving all medical services in Istanbul with the foresight to offer global developments to their patients. There are hospitals affiliated with the best US medical providers such as Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Hospitals yielding to medical tourists in Turkey have instilled the latest medical technologies and employ board-certified staff, with over 35% of physicians trained in Western countries. Turkey is one of the most visited vacation destinations in the world and now also one of the top destinations for medical tourists. Turkey’s private hospitals offer the most advanced medical treatments and technology available in the world today. Aside from having technologically advanced medical infrastructure, Turkey is a leading healthcare tourism destination with the many advantages that were discussed.
Conclusion
Numerous countries around the world have recognized the need for qualified and cost-effective healthcare services for diverse reasons and the economic magnitude resulting from the constant increase in such a need. Among strategies for promoting medical tourism, quality service has been highlighted by most countries. Marketing is one of the strategic elements that is continuously emphasized by both governments and the medical tourism industry.
Digital marketing gives the medical tourism sector a chance to advertise with a much smaller budget. It also provides much more accurate user information and behavior tracking with the ability to continually optimize marketing campaigns in real-time. The functional dimension of the internet greatly contributes to the value perception of the medical tourism experience. Furthermore, promoting Turkish medical tourism through digital platforms will allow for a global audience to be reached. Although Turkey must overcome some potential threats, such as limiting the selection of the doctors by the patients, with strong marketing efforts, health tourism seems to be a promising industry of the near future for Turkey.
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