Health Tourisms: Thailand’s Competitiveness

Abstract

This academic article aimed to analyze competitiveness of health tourism market in Thailand. It was found that health tourism was in a positive growth direction. Health tourism was able to generate a lot of income for the country. In 2017, Thailand generated income from health tourism approximately 100,000 million baht, and the growth rate of wellness tourism was approximately 14 percent per year. The competitive advantages of the overall wellness tourism in Thailand were from various external environmental factors, for example, the structural change of world population into aging society. Today, people tended to release their stress by going to therapies such as spa massages. For the domestic environment the growth of wellness tourism was from its lower price with better service and more quality than neighboring countries, especially the quality of surgical treatment which was accepted by tourists. In addition, Thailand was unique in providing products such as Thai massage, herbal steam service and herbal compress service.