The Role of Hotel Industry in Medical & Wellness Tourism

Medical tourism or wellness tourism has been around for centuries, but its growth as a viable, mature industry is hastening in a manner similar to the expansion the hotel industry experienced from the 1950s to the 1980s. Propagated in 1950s and 1960s, hotel systems reached maturation in the late 1970s, becoming an efficient and differential industry in management systems, marketing, finance and accounting, measurement, benchmarking, and disciplined in operations (Steve Rushmore). In this paper we address the crucial role that the hotel industry can play in complementing medical tourism’s positive developments.