Development of public’s role in Thailand medical tourism driven through public-private partnerships

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the confirmatory factors of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in medical tourism and to propose guidelines for the public sector’s role in driving medical tourism through PPPs. A mixed-method approach was employed, utilizing Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in a quantitative study to validate the components of PPPs in medical tourism. The sample for this study comprised 220 health tourism operators and small entrepreneurs involved in health and tourism-related activities within the area. An in-depth interview protocol with semi-structured, open-ended questions was applied to gather insights from 10 key informants. These informants included executives from health and tourism agencies, health and tourism business operators, and scholars specializing in public policy and PPPs. The questionnaire used in this research was developed based on a thorough literature review and tested for reliability through a pilot study. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.951. Quantitative data were analyzed using Social Science software packages. Descriptive statistics, such as frequency, mean, and standard deviation, along with inferential statistics like CFA were applied. The results of the quantitative analysis confirmed that the seven components of the PPPs model in health tourism aligned with the empirical data. Furthermore, the qualitative findings emphasized that the government should prioritize promoting medical tourism for healthcare purposes, modernization of laws and regulations, enhancing capacity building, and strengthening responsible public agencies by addressing the factors influencing PPPs in medical tourism.