This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.Tourism has become a key global economic activity as expectations with regard to our use of leisure time have evolved, attributing greater meaning to our free time. Tourism is one of the world s largest industries, and in many regions it is the single largest source of investment and employment.

Health and Wellness Tourism takes an innovative look at this rapidly growing sector of today¿s thriving tourism industry. This book examines the range of motivations that drive this diverse sector of tourists, the products that are being developed to meet their needs and the management implications of these developments. A wide range of international case studies illustrate the multiple aspects of the industry and new and emerging trends including spas, medical wellness, life-coaching, meditation, festivals, pilgrimage and yoga retreats. The authors also evaluate marketing and promotional strategies and assess operational and management issues in the context of health and wellness tourism. This text includes a number of features to reinforce theory for advanced students of hospitality, leisure and tourism and related disciplines.

Medical Tourism and Wellness: Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H) takes a systems approach to examining the growing field of medical tourism, one of the field’s hottest niches, with billions of dollars spent each year. This important book fills the need for a modern management book that looks at medical tourism in depth from a medical and hospitality operational management perspective. Growing numbers of people are going abroad to find affordable quality medical care for both necessary and cosmetic medical services. When they require surgery or dental work, they combine it with a trip to the Taj Mahal, a photo safari on the African veldt, or a stay at a luxury hotel—or at a hospital that feels like one—all at bargain-basement prices. The book takes a comprehensive look at medical tourism, covering such topics as: The history of medical tourism Why patients/tourists decide to travel for medical care The role of professional facilitators of medical tourism Key countries and medical disciplines in medical tourism Transportation, food, entertainment, and hotel/hospitality services Hotel and spa designs for medical tourism Best practices in medical tourism Patient follow-up after medical discharge Future trends in medical tourism Careers in medical tourism With the inclusion of case studies, the book provides a comprehensive look into this growing trend and will be valuable to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in health care administration and those pursing MBAs in healthcare, medical students pursuing a management focus, and students in hospitality management. It will also be a must-have resource for professionals working in hotels and in health care.

Spiritual sickness troubles American medicine. Through a death-denying culture, medicine has gained enormous power-an influence it maintains by distancing itself from religion, which too often reminds us of our mortality. As a result of this separation of medicine and religion, patients facing serious illness infrequently receive adequate spiritual care, despite the large body of empirical data demonstrating its importance to patient decision-making, quality of life, and medical utilization. This secular-sacred divide also unleashes depersonalizing, social forces through the market, technology, and legal-bureaucratic powers that reduce clinicians to tiny cogs in an unstoppable machine. Hostility to Hospitality is one of the first books of its kind to explore these hostilities threatening medicine and offer a path forward for the partnership of modern medicine and spirituality. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship including empirical studies, interviews, history and sociology, theology, and public policy, the authors argue for structural pluralism as the key to changing hostility to hospitality.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.In the last several decades, international traffic volume has significantly increased, raising the risk of infectious diseases and their spread. In this important volume, the impact of health issues is explored in connection with travel. Not only does the book explore the risk of diseases such as

Today's healthcare consumer demands more than just an appointment. They want healing and human connection. Since good medicine can't exist without the collaboration of all parties involved, providing an exceptional experience from first contact to release requires active participation from the entire medical office team. Each patient's situation is unique. But the greatest factor in a patient's experience-and possibly the most consistently underutilized tool in health care-is hospitality. Hospitality and healthcare go hand-in-hand. So, what does this mean for your medical practice?Imagine a practice with little to no client conflict or internal drama. Imagine the most recognized aspect from stakeholders being a positive work environment. Imagine team members who can't wait to come to work on Monday. What if you also had a steady stream of new patients from referrals alone and loyal clients who stay with you for years? The hospitality industry utilizes specific skills to cater to the particular needs of each individual being served. In healthcare, those we serve include the patient, their family, and the medical team themselves. Utilizing hospitality skills means enjoying your work while reaping the respect and appreciation you deserve as a healthcare provider accompanied by better patient satisfaction. Contrast this with the alternatives-constant team turnover, employee burnout, high stress levels, and a decline in mental health. Hospitality is a mindset. Whether you are a veterinarian, dentist, chiropractor or physician, Hospitality in Healthcare teaches you how to think with a servant's heart by anticipating and personalizing each person's experience for their gain ... and yours!

Health, Tourism and Hospitality: Spas, Wellness and Medical Travel, 2nd Edition takes an in-depth and comprehensive look at the growing health, wellness and medical tourism sectors in a global context. The book analyses the history and development of the industries, the way in which they are managed and organised, the expanding range of new and innovative products and trends, and the marketing of destinations, products and services. The only book to offer a complete overview and introduction to health, tourism and hospitality this 2nd Edition has been updated to include: • Expanded coverage to the hospitality sector with a particular focus on spa management. • New content on medical tourism throughout the book, to reflect the worldwide growth in medical travel with more and more countries entering this competitive market. • Updated content to reflect recent issues and trends including: ageing population, governments encouraging preventative health, consumer use of contemporary and alternative therapies, self-help market, impacts of economic recession, spa management and customer loyalty. • New case studies taken from a range of different countries and contexts, and focusing on established or new destinations, products and services such as: conventional medicine, complementary and alternative therapies, lifestyle-based wellness, beauty and cosmetics, healthy nutrition, longevity and anti (or active)-ageing, amongst others. Written in a user friendly style, this is essential reading for students studying health, tourism and hospitality.