MEDICAL TOURISM AS A PROMISING DIRECTION FOR THE TOURISM INDUSTRY IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

   One of the fastest growing areas of tourism today is medical tourism. With increasing globalisation and advances in medical technology, patients now have access to a wider range of medical care than ever before. From simple cosmetic surgery to cancer treatment, medical tourism provides patients with the opportunity to receive high quality medical care at a fraction of the price they would pay at home.

            Despite the increasing popularity of this area of tourism, there is no well-established scientific definition for the concept of medical tourism. According to a number of authors, medical tourism occurs when consumers decide to travel across international borders with the intention of receiving some form of medical treatment [1]. M.D. Horowitz and J.A. Rosensweig consider medical tourism as a type of tourism in which citizens from developed countries travel to less developed countries to obtain medical services, mainly due to a significant difference in price, while travelling in the opposite direction, where patients from less developed countries seek treatment in more developed countries they consider as a traditional method of treatment, and they do not include it in the medical tourism category [2]. G.Y. Shchekin defines medical tourism as medical care provision realised through tourist services [3]. The World Tourism Organization recommends the following characteristic of medical tourism: "medical tourism covers those types of tourism which have as their main motivation the contribution to physical, mental and/or spiritual health through medical and health-improving activities which increase the ability of people to satisfy their own needs and to function better as individuals in the environment and society". [4].