The unique and challenging interdisciplinary research stream combining cancer and tourism offers cutting-edge knowledge and provides much-needed practical implications to guide relevant stakeholders to help people with cancer to engage in and benefit from tourism.
In employing a synergistic approach that combines oncology, travel therapy and health economics, this paper contributes to cancer care through the lens of tourism. The review process was guided by the established framework of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).
The study achieves a robust and inclusive foundation for analyzing existing research integrating oncology, travel therapy and health economics. As a result, eight articles addressing cancer patients in the tourism and hospitality field were identified as relevant for the final analysis. Future research directions are proposed to encourage further academic inquiry into the experiences of vulnerable populations, such as individuals with cancer within a tourism context.
This is the first research in the tourism and marketing literature to examine the collaborations among these disciplines to explore whether tourism can be considered a potentially cost-effective alternative treatment intervention for globally prevalent diseases such as cancer. Such research could investigate the impact of tourism on improving the quality of life, well-being and overall health outcomes for patients with cancer. Promising results would inform tourism developers when considering how to accommodate this niche market to expand their customer base.
