Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) Tourism in the Context of “One Belt and One Road”

EasyChair Preprint 2853

Abstract

With the development of modern economy, people all over the world have experienced a change of their needs from food and shelter to spiritual needs. The increasing number of tourists has brought infinite possibilities to the tourism industry. At the same time, the importance attached to health for all people goes higher than ever before. This is why "tourism + health" (or travel for health) has become an important model of growth in the industries as well as a popular topic for discussion and research. The aging of the international population has also become a factor for the development of health tourism. Destination countries are developing their own unique products to cater to tourists traveling for health and wellness, such as spa in Thailand, yoga in India, physical examination in Singapore and Japan, beautification in Brazil, cancer treatment in the United States, dentistry in Hungary, hot spring in Turkey, plastic surgery in South Korea, and stem cells in Switzerland. In China, traditional Chinese medicine has been usefully combined with tourism in its new development. This paper presents a review of traditional Chinese medical (TCM) tourism, and highlights its potential for further development in the context of the country’s “one-belt-one-road” strategy. The article also suggests directions for future research on this emerging tourist market. 

Keyphrases: Health, One Belt One Road, Outbound Medical tourism, TCM Tourism

@booklet{EasyChair:2853,
  author    = {Zhenguo Song and Honggen Xiao},
  title     = {Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) Tourism in the Context of “One Belt and One Road”},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 2853},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2020}}