Competitiveness policies for medical tourism clusters: Government initiatives in Thailand

Abstract

Despite the increasing debate in literature on both tourism clusters and medical tourism, the role played by the government in medical tourism clusters remains vastly unexplored. The aim of the present paper is to explore government initiatives in clusters where the medical and tourism industries engage in a virtuous circuit for regional competitiveness. The paper builds on the longitudinal case study of the Thailand medical tourism cluster, analysing its formation and development in time and the competitiveness policies set up by the government. In Thailand, idiosyncratic factor conditions allowed the creation of a new form of cluster, where the health and the hospitality systems are beneficially tied together in a self reinforcing mechanism of competitiveness nurtured by tourism flows. Our findings will help regional policy-makers understand the role of government in the formation and development of clusters where tourism is synergic with the medical industry for regional competitiveness.