Measuring hidden demand and price behavior from US outbound health tourism spending

Abstract

The health tourism literature has covered several topics, but studies on the workings of health tourism demand and prices are still under-highlighted. This study investigates US outbound health tourism demand and price developments (real exchange rates) for 50 destinations, using outbound health tourism spending as a reference variable. The study applies the dynamic time warping approach, a sophisticated technique to assess similarities between time series, specifically, the outbound health spending with demand and prices. The results show that demand developments have similarities with US outbound health tourism spending in the short-run, with about 1.2% of all US outbound travelers being health tourists. Price developments have both long- and short-term similarities with outbound health tourism spending. The findings could help policy-makers in better managing the health tourism industry.