Scrubbing up on-line: How best practice hospital websites can drive medical tourism

This study explores how health institutions (i.e. hospitals) communicate through their corporate websites to convey reliability and credibility in order to establish relationships with users in the field of medical travel. The 10 world’s leading medical tourism hospitals have been selected based on the International Medical Travel Quality Alliance (2019) ranking and their strategic online communication analyzed by applying framing theory. Methodologically, a content analysis was conducted of both websites and subsites which aimed specifically at medical tourists. We conclude that hospitals are in an embryonic phase in their communicative management model with their public in the field of medical tourism since they disregard the potential role of public relations. This article provides valuable and helpful information for both tourism and communication practitioners in medical tourism.