Effects of Medical Tourism on Economic Growth of Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue X, October 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Effects of Medical Tourism on Economic Growth of Nigeria

Dr. Ernest Jebolise Chukwuka¹, Dr. Fidelis U. Amahi^2
1Department of Business Administration, Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Delta State, Nigeria
²Department of Accountancy, University of Delta Agbor, Nigeria

Abstract: Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. It embraces areas of Physical attractions like falls and rocks and so on; Manmade like amusement and holiday resorts; Wild life based attractions like games, gardens and fishing grounds; Cultural attractions like festivals, arts and crafts; Sports like local, regional and international; and Business tourism like seminars conferences and meetings. The focus of this study is to investigate the effects of medical Tourism on Nigerian economic development. In line with the objectives of the study, the researcher adopted survey design method which made use of primary sources (mainly with questionnaire and observation). This work was analyzed quantitatively with simple percentage and the hypotheses were tested with Chi-square to validate the findings. The result revealed that medical tourism has significant effect on economic growth of Nigeria. The result further shows that medical tourism has positive effect on small and medium scale enterprise in Nigeria. The result also highlights the problems facing medical tourism in Nigeria and under-development of the health system. It was observed that the culture of Nigerians preferring anything foreign is also a contributory factor to the mass exodus of Nigerians for medical treatment outside the country. The study therefore recommended that there should be adequate funding, improved health care facilities, better remuneration and motivation for health workers in order to improve health care system and reduce medical tourism, there should be immediate ban of government sponsored medical treatment abroad, adequate training, enforcement of legal action against medical negligence, improved medical research and encouraging foreign investment and that Government should intensify vigorously the marketing and promotion of Nigeria cultural, historical and archaeological treasures

Keywords: Medical Tourism, Economy, development, Economic growth, SME, Tourism, Brain drain.

I. INTRODUCTION

Medical Tourism is emerging as a prime sector of the growing industry and contributing towards the social, economic and global development. Facts and figures have shown that it has an annual growth rate of 4% in countries like USA, Italy, France, India, Spain, UK, and Caribbean and of recent, African countries like Kenya. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Gambia, Egypt, and so on, earned substantially for medical tourism as analyzed by Mani (2015).

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