Ekonomické a mezinárodní aspekty péče o zdravotní turisty

In recent years, medical tourism has been an important part of the benefits of inbound tourism. The aim of the work is to provide a comprehensive view of the issue of medical tourism with a focus on the Czech Republic. The thesis deals with the development of a methodology for calculating the impacts of medical tourism on the country's economy. The aim of this work is to use multipliers to calculate the impact of the stay of medical tourists in the Czech Republic on selected indicators. These are indicators of total production and gross value added (GVA). The thesis develops a methodology that refers to a certified methodology for calculating the economic impacts of a cultural event or organization. The result of this work is to calculate the value of the above indicators under the condition that 120,000 medical tourists come to the Czech Republic per year, which is the estimated number of medical tourists in 2018. The results show that expenditures of 120 thousand medical tourists generated total production of over $ 600 million (0.3% of GDP) and increased GVA by $ 79 million (0.04%) in the Czech Republic. This research also aims to further analyze and evaluate the experiences of medical tourists and find out what is important to them and what are their motivations when choosing a destination where they will undergo the selected procedure. Based on qualitative research, which was conducted in the form of interviews with medical tourists who underwent medical intervention in the Czech Republic, the problems they had to faced, factors influencing their decision-making processes were identified and suggestions for improvement were found. The research focused on the areas of communication, behaviour, decision-making process, and factors that lead to patient satisfaction. The results are important not only for the healthcare facilities themselves but also for the creation of an adequate marketing strategy, as it was found that the most important tool in the decision-making process is e / WOM. It was found that medical tourists decide on the choice of the country mostly on the basis of recommendations from family or friends, mostly those who have already undergone medical treatment in that country. Therefore, it is important that patients leave satisfied so that they can continue to recommend the Czech Republic. As the course of the research was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, additional research was added on the economic impact of the pandemic on spas and health care facilities for medical tourists. It was found that the facility lost significant revenues due to the absence of foreign tourists, many had to reduce or completely shut down.