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How The Concept of Smart Medical Tourism Can Transform Indonesia into a Global Healthcare Hub

 OPINION

Tourism is a phenomenon that involves the travel of a person within the country (domestic travel) or to another country (cross-border travel). Currently, to increase income in the tourism sector, the government, namely Kemenparekraf, does not only focus on increasing the number of local tourist visits, but also strives to develop sustainable tourism. As a form of implementation of sustainable tourism, in recent years, the concept of medical tourism has emerged and continues to show an increasing trend. Unlike the concept of wellness tourism, the concept of medical tourism is generally carried out by people visiting other regions or countries for the purpose of treatment or to obtain health care. 

The strategic location of Indonesia has the potential to become a global leader in medical tourism. It also has a number of advantages, including a large population, a growing economy, world-class healthcare facilities that are accredited by international organizations, and the rapid growth of tourism sector. But, in fact, in every year, around 2 million Indonesian go abroad to Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and the United States for treatment, which has an impact on the loss of potential income of around Rp97 trillion (Lee, 2023). 

Compared with Data from United Arab Emirates Ministry of Economy (2019), the global medical tourism market is expected to generate revenue of USD 207.9 billion in 2027 and the medical tourism sector grows at an average of 6.5-7.5 percent per year. The front tier countries who are using a concept of medical tourism: 

Compared to countries such as Japan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. whose medical tourism has developed relatively rapidly in Asia, the main problems in the relatively backward development of medical tourism in Indonesia are as follows: First, the medical tourism industry policy is not clear. Second, the language barrier that is not widely spoken in Indonesia. Third, the weak of supervision mechanism and healthcare services for international medical tourism consumers are not adequate. Fourth, the medical tourism industry chain is not mature, trust between relevant parties has not been built, and industry development is still slow. Fifth, the relatively higher cost of treatment. 

 One way to address these challenges is to develop Smart Medical Tourism. Smart medical tourism is the use of technology to improve the medical tourism experience. The excisting medical tourism have to be improved by the government by building or renovating several international-standard health centers such as hospitals and therapy centers. Currently, Indonesia has the Bali International Hospital, which is collaborating with Mayo Clinic, which is expected to be able to become a prototype partner for medical tourism cooperation in Indonesia. 

In this direction, a tourism management system is very important to create ideal tours and travels by applying technology to accommodate related information such as destination locations, weather, transportation, accommodation, events, etc. The platform of smart tourism that adopts technological innovation is beneficial to connect travel, hotels, transportation, and other tourist destinations to an integrated Internet and data system. While if combined with the concept of medical tourism, this technological innovation will be able to connect tourism actors with health care centers in Indonesia. This concept also being able to use technology to:

  1. Provide information to potential patients: Smart medical tourism platforms can provide information to potential patients about healthcare facilities, treatments, and costs. They can also help patients to book appointments and travel arrangements.
  2. Improve communication: Smart medical tourism platforms can help to improve communication between patients and healthcare providers. This can be done by providing translation services and by using telemedicine technology.
  3. Enhance the patient experience: Smart medical tourism platforms can enhance the patient experience by providing services such as online check-in, appointment reminders, and access to medical records.
The application of this technology has been used in several countries such as Malaysia, namely the concept of smart tourism 4.0 (Chanda et al., 2022), Europe and Thailand through the concept of eco-tourism, and India with the concept of smart tourism technology (Chanda et al., 2022).

Based on the background, the medical tourism industry in Indonesia must immediately adapt to enter the international market and expand its target market in Asia. In addition, the medical tourism sector can also gradually build an international industrial chain by collaborating with relevant stakeholders. The application of smart medical tourism for the internationalization of the medical tourism industry in Indonesia is expected to be able to build brand character and bring technological innovation into it.

Bibliography:
Chanda, I., Sajnani, M., Gowreesunkar, V.G., 2022. Smart Tourism Technologies - A Key to Success and Survival for Sustainable Eco-tourism Development in Dooars Region (West Bengal), in: 2022 10th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and Future Directions) (ICRITO). Presented at the 2022 10th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and Future Directions) (ICRITO), pp. 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRITO56286.2022.9964796 

Lee, C., 2023. Perkara Jastip Obat dan Berobat ke Luar Negeri - kbr.id [WWW Document]. Kant. Ber. Radio. URL https://kbr.id/nasional/03- 2023/perkara-jastip-obat-dan-berobat-ke-luar-negeri/111170.html (accessed 7.12.23)

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