Metaverse Poised to Transform $54B Medical Tourism Market: Study
The metaverse – a loose term describing connected digital worlds that can be visited by humans, with no technical ties to geography – is poised to boost the medical tourism industry.
A recent analysis by industry experts in Omnia Health, Iran's Journal of Public Health and Medical Tourism, highlights how telemedicine technology built on the Metaverse concept can be on-board and facilitate patient access and improve patient satisfaction for medical tourists.
Medical tourism is a type of travel where patients leave their country and seek medical care abroad. This may be done for quality reasons, if patients believe they can receive better care outside of their home, for financial reasons to reduce local health care costs, or for many other reasons.
In the year In 2022, a team of researchers from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Iran, wrote an op-ed in the Iranian Journal of Public Health explaining the benefits of preparing patients for medical tourism in Metaverse.
“Familiarity with the tourist attractions of a destination city or country through the metaverse can increase tourists' enthusiasm and excitement for deciding on this medical trip,” the researchers wrote. It improves patients' understanding and experience of their environment, thereby reducing stress, helping them feel more secure, and leading to better doctor-patient relationships and higher patient satisfaction.
According to an Omnia Health report, the medical tourism industry was estimated to be worth $54 billion by 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the growth of the industry, however, and by 2024, it will be worth around $47 billion. It is predicted to grow to more than 111 billion dollars before the end of the decade, according to Statista. This represents an annual growth of 19.58 percent.
In October 2022, the Thumbay Hospital network was launched as the first fully functional Metaverse hospital to feature patient services and payments in cryptocurrency.
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