Ethical Marketing Practices and Challenges in Medical Tourism

Medical tourism has emerged as a significant global phenomenon, driven by rising healthcare costs, long waiting times, and the pursuit of advanced yet affordable treatments abroad. While marketing is indispensable in positioning destinations and providers, it simultaneously generates complex ethical challenges. Promotional strategies often exaggerate success rates, obscure potential risks and underrepresent post-treatment responsibilities, thereby creating asymmetries of information and undermining informed consent. Healthcare commodification and digital intermediaries prioritize revenue over patient welfare, heightening risks of misinformation, privacy breaches and weak accountability. Ethical marketing in this context is not merely a normative obligation but a strategic necessity for fostering trust, credibility and sustainability. This chapter explores ethical dilemmas in medical tourism marketing and proposes a framework to align promotion with integrity, equity and sustainability.