MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING GLOBAL AND REGIONAL MEDICAL TOURISM MARKETS

Abstract

The article covers current issues of interdisciplinary research in the field of marketing strategies development for advancingmedical tourism – a growing trend in health preservation systems at the global and regional levels. It is demonstrated that with acomprehensive approach to researching the marketing of medical tourism, it becomes possible to establish the demand and supply withregard to medical, wellness, cultural-educational, and recreational facilities, as well as the functionally associated elements of infrastructure. The object of marketing research in medical tourism is defined as a set of evaluative characteristics of the internal and externalenvironments of medical institutions, medical tourists’ requests, market parameters, competitors and contractors, equipment and goodssuppliers, and intermediaries. The subject of such research should be seen in the interrelations between marketing and tourism, tourismand medicine, and marketing and medicine. Medical tourism marketing is defined as the systematic and coordinated use of methodsand tools aimed at attracting clients from other countries and regions by promoting unique medical services and attractive touristpackages. The article proposes methods (SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, Ansoff Matrix, etc.) and a set of tools (customer incentives, information provision, verified assessment system, partnership, internet network, real-time communication, etc.) to be used formarketing research in medical tourism. The levels of Internet usage by country and the impact of this trend on the digitalisation ofmedical tourism marketing are demonstrated. One of the marketing strategy tools – mobile applications – is characterised when appliedto the conditions of some foreign countries and Russia. Map charts of Russia provided reflect the geographical (region-wise) featuresof obtaining state and municipal services, which can be productively used in marketing strategies for medical tourism.