Profiling Indonesian Medical Tourists: A Motivation-Based Segmentation Study

In the past few decades, the number of Indonesians who travel abroad for medical
tourism has increased dramatically. A literature review has indicated that research
investigating the underlying motivational factors for Indonesians to travel overseas
for medical treatment is still a few. Therefore, this study aimed to segment the
Indonesian medical tourists based on push and pull travel motivation constructs.
Exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis techniques were applied to analyze
the data. A survey was completed to 192 Indonesians who have had a medical travel
experience overseas. The results of this study revealed four push motivational factors and three pull motivational factors. Based on this push and pull factors, three
medical tourist segments were identified: trendy, prudent, and opportunistic
segments. The emergence of these three segments would require different approaches and strategies for tourism stakeholders to serve each segment better.