Government and governance strategies in medical tourism

This chapter provides an overview of current government and governance strategies relative to medical tourism development and management around the world. Most studies on medical tourism have privileged national governments as key actors in medical tourism regulation and, in some cases, even facilitation and provision. However, with the multiplication of supra- and sub-national regions, each with their own distinct responsibilities and levels of autonomy, it is important to consider the various nested and overlapping governance types and practices at play in medical tourism. This chapter, therefore, identifies how governments at various levels (e.g., national, sub-national, supra-national) in both source and host contexts play different, yet often overlapping, roles relative to medical tourism as facilitator, regulator and provider.