In recent decades, hospitality and tourism scholars have shown increasing interest in medical tourism research. However, a comprehensive and systematic review of medical tourism research is lacking. To address this gap, this study undertook a review of 131 medical tourism studies published in the Social Sciences Citation Index-listed journals from 1987 to 2022. Their research designs, geographic foci, types of medical tourism, and applied theories were thoroughly described. Based on thematic analysis, critical reflections were conducted on five existing research streams, including the medical tourism economy, medical tourism destination management and marketing, medical tourism suppliers, medical tourists, and local community involvement. A conceptual framework was developed and visually presented. This study concludes by addressing the existing knowledge gaps and highlights several implications for future medical tourism research, including destination management and marketing, as well as conceptual and methodological aspects. These critical reviews and implications offer medical tourism scholars a wide range of research domains, research questions, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches for future inquiries.

中文翻译：

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重新审视医疗旅游研究：批判性评论以及对目的地管理和营销的影响


近几十年来，酒店和旅游学者对医疗旅游研究表现出越来越大的兴趣。然而，目前对医疗旅游研究缺乏全面、系统的综述。为了弥补这一差距，本研究对 1987 年至 2022 年在社会科学引文索引列出的期刊上发表的 131 项医疗旅游研究进行了回顾。对它们的研究设计、地理重点、医疗旅游类型和应用理论进行了全面描述。基于主题分析，对现有的五个研究方向进行了批判性反思，包括医疗旅游经济、医疗旅游目的地管理和营销、医疗旅游供应商、医疗游客和当地社区参与。开发并直观地呈现了一个概念框架。本研究最后解决了现有的知识差距，并强调了对未来医疗旅游研究的一些影响，包括目的地管理和营销，以及概念和方法方面。这些批判性评论和启示为医疗旅游学者提供了广泛的研究领域、研究问题、理论框架和未来研究的方法论。