Data Analysis – FEASIBILITY FOR BUILDING A HOSPITAL IN LAOS

In total, 336 completed questionnaires were collected; of these 13 incomplete cases in which respondents had not answered several parts of the questionnaire were excluded from the analysis. Therefore, from a total of approximately 2,300 emails sent to prospective tourists inviting them to complete the online survey, 323 valid completed questionnaires were returned, which resulted in a response rate of 14.04%. The 14.04% response rate is considered acceptable as no incentive was offered to respondents. Normally, consumer survey with no incentive offered to respondents yields lower than 10% response rate while the response rate with consumer survey with incentives and follow ups can be as high as 26.54% (People Pulse, 2010).

Profile of Respondents

The demographic characteristics of respondents were assessed in terms of gender, age, and marital status, country of residence, income, education, employment, and purposes of medical visit. Table 1 presents a summary of the demographic characteristics of the final sample respondents.

Table 4.1: Demographic Profile of Respondents

Demographic Respondents	Number of Respondents	Proportion of sample
Male Female	145 165	46.8% 53.2%
18-30 years old 31-40 years old 41-50 years old 51-60 years old 61-70 years old 71 years and older	62 116 80 38 13 1	20.0% 37.4% 25.8% 12.3% 4.2% 0.3%
Single Married Cohabiting Divorced Widowed Separated	134 127 17 17 10 5	43.2% 41.0% 5.5% 5.5% 3.2% 1.6%
Australia United Arab of Emirates United States of America United Kingdom Hong Kong Singapore Other	53 52 32 31 28 18 96	17.1% 16.8% 10.3% 10.0% 9.0% 5.8% 31.1%
USD$10,000 or less USD$10,001-30,000 USD$30,001-60,000 USD$60,001-100,000 USD$100,001-200,000 More than USD$200,001	28 62 129 53 25 13	9.0% 20.0% 41.6% 17.1% 8.1% 4.2%
Educated up to and including high school College Diploma Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree Doctorate	21 46 125 100 18	6.8% 14.8% 40.3% 32.3% 5.8%
Corporate firm employee Business owner Freelance professional Employed with temporary contract Unemployed Other	124 65 29 28 11 53	40.0% 21.0% 9.4% 9.0% 3.5% 17.1%

*It is apparent that there were slightly more female respondents (53.2%) than male respondents.
*The largest group of respondents were 31-40 years of age (37.4%) followed by those who were aged 41-50 years (25,8%) and those aged 18-30 years (20.00%). The relative under-representation of older respondents is probably explained by the online nature of the survey.
*In terms of marital status, single respondents represented the largest group (43.2%), closely followed by married respondents (41%).
*In terms of country of origin, 17% of respondents were from Australia, followed by the United Arab of emirates (16.8%), United States of America (10.3%), United Kingdom (10.0%), Hong Kong (9%), and Singapore (5.8%). The remainder of the sample (31.1%) chose the option other indicating one or more countries.
*Most of respondents (approximately 60% in all) were in either the upper-middle socio-economic stratum (with 41.6% of respondents earning USD$30,001-60,000 annually) or the lower middle socio-economic stratum (with 20% earning USD$10,001-30,000 annually). Another 17.1% of respondents had an annual income of USD$60,001-100,000.
*Most respondents were well educated, with 40.3% having obtained a bachelor’s degree and 32.3% having a master’s degree. In terms of employment status, 40% of respondents were employed full-time by corporate firms, whereas 21% owned business.

Table 4.2 summarizes the respondents’ objectives in travelling abroad for medical reasons. Respondents were asked to choose one or more alternatives that applied to their situation. Because they were allowed to state more than one objective, the total number of answers is thus greater than the number of respondents (377 answers; 122.8% of valid cases).

Table 4.2: Objective(s) of travelling abroad for medical reasons

Objective of travelling Abroad	Number	Proportion of responses	Proportion of cases
To cure an illness	106	28.1%	34.5%
For cosmetic surgery	96	25.5%	31.3%
For medical check up	94	24.9%	30.6%
To improve health 81	81	21.5%	26.4%
Total	377	100.0%	122.8%

*It is apparent from Table 4.2 that the largest group of respondents were interested in curing their illnesses (28.1% of response), followed by cosmetic surgery (25.5), and medical check-ups (24.9%). The last-reported alternative was health improvement (21.5%).

Results and Analysis

An open-ended question invited respondents to name as many medical tourism destinations of which they were currently aware. Table 4.3 shows the destinations that were named by respondents on first, second, third, and fourth recalls.

Table 4.3: Medical Tourism Destinations of Which Respondents were Aware

Destinations	First recall	Second recall	Third recall	Fourth recall	Total
Korea	138	51	9	2	200
Thailand	43	23	15	2	83
Singapore	22	23	4	0	49
USA and Canada	21	8	5	1	35
Eastern Europe	18	6	4	0	28
Malaysia	17	16	4	2	39
India	10	7	1	0	18
Europe and UK	7	15	3	3	28
Latin America	6	8	1	0	15
Others	28	28	6	0	62
Total	310	185	52	10	557

*Table 4.3 shows that Korea was the best-known medical tourism destination (200 recalls), followed by Thailand (83 calls), Singapore (49 recalls), Malaysia (39 recalls), and the USA and Canada (35 recalls). However, according to Woodside and Lysonski (1989), the first recall on an unaided basis tends to exert a strong influence on intention to visit. Therefore, Korea, which had the largest number of first recalls (138), should be more likely to be chosen as final medical tourism destination.

Table 4.4: Factors that Influence of Motivation of Individuals to Engage in Medical Tourism

Dependent Variable	Independent variables	Test statistic	Result
Motivation to engage in medical tourism	Attitudes towards cost of medical care in home country (log transformed)	Pearson correlation	Significant negative correlation (Pearson r=-0.267; p=0.00)
	Availability of treatment in home country	ANOVA	Insignificant effect [F(2,3070=0.297; p=0.744]

*As shown in Table 4.3 a significant negative correlation was found between the two variables (Pearson r = -0.267; p=0.00). It is apparent that negative attitudes towards costs of medical care in the home country (that is, an opinion that the cost of medical care is too high) were associated with a greater motivation to engage in medical tourism. Research statement 1 was thus confirmed.

As shown in Table 4.3 and 4.4, no significant difference was found in the level of motivation to engage in medical tourism between respondents in different situations with regard to the availability of medical treatment in the home country F(2,307) = 0.297; p=0.774 (>0.05). Research statement 2 was therefore rejected.

Table 4.5: ANOVA of availability of desired medical treatment and motivation to engage in medical tourism

Availability/Motivation	Mean	Standard deviation	Levene’s statistic	F statistic
			F (2,307)=1.657; p=0.182	F (2,307) = 0.297, p=0.774
Available	5.5089	0.8255
Not available	5.5600	0.8843
Do not know	5.4167	0.9964

*Table 4.6 shows the mean scores and standard deviations that involved consideration of medical tourism destination attributes.

Table 4.6: Medical Tourism Destination Attributes

Destination Attributes	Mean score	Standard deviation
Quality of care	5.6128	0.7715
Saving potential	5.5395	0.9097
Hygiene issues	5.5372	0.7914
Safety and security issues	5.1390	0.8716
Accessibility	4.9446	1.0862
Tourism opportunities	4.0406	1.1811

*It is apparent from table 4.6 that quality of care was the most important attribute (mean = 5.6128; SD = 0.7715), followed by saving potential (mean = 5.5395; SD = 0.9097), hygiene issues (mean = 5.5372; SD = 0.7914), and safety and security issues (mean = 5.1390; SD = 0.8716). The two least-important attributes were accessibility (mean = 4.9446; SD = 1.0862) and tourism opportunities (mean = 4.0406, SD = 1.811).

*Given that hygiene, safety, and security are indirectly related to quality of care, these findings demonstrate that the respondents placed more importance on issues related to quality of care and saving potential, while being less concentrated about accessibility and tourism opportunities. Research statement 3 was thus confirmed.

Table 4.7: Correlations between Destinations Attributes

Destination attributes	Intention to visit Korea	Intention to visit Singapore	Intention to visit Malaysia	Intention to visit Thailand
Quality of care	Spearman’s rho=0.017; p=0.771	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=0.142; p=0.012	Spearman’s rho=0.075; p=0.186
Saving potential	Spearman’s rho=0.140; p=0.014	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=0.091; p=0.112	Spearman’s rho=-0.105; p=0.017
Safety and security	Spearman’s rho=0.058; p=0.309	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=0.057; p=0.317	Spearman’s rho=0.075; p=0.187
Hygiene issues	Spearman’s rho=0.025; p=0.666	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=-0.144; p=0.011	Spearman’s rho=0.023; p=0.691
Tourism opportunities	Spearman’s rho=0.148; p=0.013	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=0.085; p=0.153	Spearman’s rho=0.030; p=0.622
Accessibility	Spearman’s rho=0.090; p=0.112	Pearson’s r=0.031; p=0.059	Spearman’s rho=-0.088; p=0.060	Spearman’s rho=0.047; p=0.409

*The research statement 4 which had proposed that potential for cost saving is a compensatory rule; that is prospective medical tourists are willing to sacrifice certain attributes for cost saving) involved consideration of: (i) saving potential; and (ii) intention to visit Korea or its three completing medical tourism destinations. Although all of these were interval measurement, intentions to visit Korea, Malaysia, or Singapore failed to satisfy the assumption of normality. Spearman’s rho was therefore chosen test the correlation between saving potential and intention the three destinations (Aron and Aron, 1997, Levin and Rubin, 1991). In the case of intention to visit Singapore, which did satisfy the assumption of normality, the correlation was tested by Pearson product-moment correlation(Levin and Tubin, Manning and Munro, 2007).

*As previously noted, Table 4.7 showed that a significant positive correlation existed between saving potential and intention to visit Korea (Spearman’s rho = 0.140, p<0.05). A significant negative correlation was also apparent between saving potential and intention to visit Thailand (Spearman’s rho = -0.105, p=<0.05). In the case of intention to visit Singapore or intention to visit India, there was no significant correlation between saving potential and intention to visit.

Data Analysis Conclusion

These findings suggest that prospective tourists who were more price-sensitive were more likely to perceive Korea as an appealing medical tourism destination, but less likely to perceive Thailand as an appealing destination. These respondents would appear to be willing to sacrifice certain attributes of their medical vacation in the interests of greater saving potential, while avoiding destinations that are to be expensive. Research statement 4 was thus confirmed. This comparative outcome for Thailand and Korea can apply to the current feasibility to build the medical industry of Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

It is expected to be bring long term economical benefits to the home country and to the medical tourists. This project is initiated with the expectation of incremental growth year on year basis together with a significant expansion strategy. Thus, it is expected that this project will have a significant positive contribution towards the GDP of the home country. Increasing demand for cosmetic surgeries and medical education is the key reason for this project to be initiated. Credibility and potential of this project can be further supported by the expected future growth of this industry as per the statistics. As a result, many investors at angle investment level are keen to provide financial support for these projects.