Exploring the Jamaican Health Tourism Sector Within a Sustainability Framework

Introduction Many countries around the world depend on tourism revenues to support and advance their economy (Gilmore et al. 2008). This is indeed the case for Jamaica, which is a Caribbean island nation known for its diverse natural beauty and ability to attract visitors from around the world. Despite the recent global economic downturn, Jamaica experienced an impressive 3.6% increase in tourist arrivals in 2009 over the previous year, with nearly 1.8 million stopover visitors (eTurboNews 2010). The future appears to be promising for Jamaica, with the tourism sector expected to grow to US$9-09 billion in economic activity by 2017, up from US$4.57 billion in 2007 (Vision 2030 Jamaica 2010). The importance of tourism in the future success and prosperity of Jamaica is evidenced by a 97-page report on the sector included in the document, "Vision 2030 Jamaica"-a governmental plan intended to help the country achieve developed status by the year 2030. The plan highlights the need for Jamaica to appropriately diversify its tourism offerings to meet the evolving needs of travelers. Specifically, the plan suggests that the market has experienced somewhat of a shift mostly from travelers simply seeking the "sun, sea, and sand" vacations for which Jamaica has been traditionally known, to include more active, meaningful travel experiences (Vision 2030 Jamaica 2010). Given the sole focus on the "traditional" Jamaican vacation might not prove to continue to be a source of competitive advantage for Jamaica into the future, Vision 2030 Jamaica explores the advancement of additional forms of tourism. One such emerging form of tourism is health tourism. Health tourism encompasses two distinct elements--medical tourism and wellness tourism (Voigt et al. 2010; Smith & Puczko 2009). Many definitions of medical tourism and wellness tourism exist in the literature. One definition of medical tourism is "travel to destinations to undergo medical treatments such as surgery or other special interventions" (Smith & Puczko 2009 p. 101). Wellness tourism can be defined as "the sum of all the relationships resulting from a journey by people whose primary motive is to maintain or promote their health and well-being and who stay at least one night at a facility that is specifically designed to enable and enhance people's physical, psychological, spiritual and/or social well-being" (Voigt et al. 2010, p. 9). Medical tourists motivation for travel is to gain access to therapies or treatments intended to cure a specific medical issue, condition, or problem; whereas an individual who engages in wellness travel is overall in good health and seeks treatments and experiences to maintain their well-being (Smith & Puczko 2009). Vision 2030 Jamaica points to the United Nations World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO) observation that the demand for medical and wellness treatments and spa retreats has increased substantially and steadily over the past five years (Vision 2030 Jamaica 2010). This growing trend has been attributed to a number of factors including, rising health care costs in industrialized nations, increased desirability of alternative healing therapies, travelers' desire to enhance their physical and mental well-being, people's need to escape stressful lifestyles, and consumers' increased willingness to spend money on their health and well-being (Voigt et al. 2010). While the aforementioned statistics regarding the health tourism market and the viability of Jamaica's tourism sector, in general are encouraging; Jamaica has yet to emerge as a considerable competitive force in this subsector of tourism. Further, academic research and practical analysis of Jamaica's health tourism is somewhat lacking. Therefore, this exploratory paper seeks to provide a preliminary analysis intended to address this gap in this literature. The following section specifically details the aim of this paper. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state, as well as the future potential of Jamaica as a competitive force in the health tourism sector. …