1. Conduct a study on the current situation of your clinic.
What do you need to analyze in your clinic? Before starting to learn about health tourism strategies, especially for 2021 and beyond, you should consider whether your clinic meets the requirements to carry out this type of service.
1.1. Study the market
The main strategy is to study the health market in foreign countries. It is necessary to know the current state of the market with which you are interested in competing. Study what is the demand for services in the market of the country you choose (we will also talk about this later) and check the level of competition with local clinics. Take into account mainly the trends prior to the pandemic, but also the current situation of the healthcare system in the countries of your target market.
1.2. Compare prices and availability
Many foreign clients discard clinics in their home countries because they are not happy with the prices of their medical treatments, or because there are no treatments available. Study what are the prices of the health market of the country with which you want to compete and its availability, and choose prices that can attract the interest of customers.
Foreign patients are not interested in paying less, but getting more benefits for the same price, hence they are interested in paying the same for treatment and at the same time make a tourist trip.
1.3. Analyze your material and human resources
Do you have the resourcesnecessary to serve both regular customers and potential foreign customers? It is not only a question of having a sufficient number of teams, but also that these teams are available to attend to foreign patients for the time their treatment requires, avoiding long waiting lists.
On the other hand, does your clinic have enough healthcare staff? There are probably many members of your team who work in your clinic on a daily basis, but it is common that there are specialists who usually come in a couple of times a week.
In case foreign patients require the services of these specialists, you will have to get them to adapt to the new needs of the clinic. The most important thing is to be able to carry out all the treatment of the foreign client, with the best medical attention, and to do it in the time frame that marks their visit to the destination, since they will not be able to attend future appointments once they return to their country of origin.
Obviously you cannot miss the check of the facilities of your clinic. Foreign patients appreciate clinics with modern, comfortable and attractive designs, as this makes them gain confidence in the clinic.
1.4. Offer safe travel and ensure that protocols are followed
While the vaccine that will be administered in European countries represents the beginning of the end of the pandemic, there will still be many unvaccinated citizens. One way or another, from now on it will be necessary to ensure the safety of travelers, following medical protocols and creating a safe environment with which to convince potential patients of the advantages of health tourism.
2. Take into account which treatments are most in demand.
When considering whether your clinic’s services are suitable for medical tourism, you must first know which treatments are most in demand by foreign clients. A nationwide study by the digital platform Top Doctors explains that:
- 20% of health tourists demand dermatology services. So medical clinics are the ones that benefit the most. Normally these tourists demand treatments to achieve skin rejuvenation (wrinkle removal, brighten the face, cellulite treatment, etc.)
- 10% of these resort to gynecology and assisted reproduction treatments.
