Issues in the macro-environment are affecting the historic relationships that have existed between hospitals and their medical staffs over the last half century. Rising healthcare costs, deteriorating relationships, unexplained variations in clinical outcomes, transparency in healthcare outcomes, medical tourism, competition between hospitals and physicians, and reluctance by hospitals and phys...

Despite rapid growth in the marine tourism sector, the impacts of recreation on the marine environment are generally not well understood. Most existing studies of marine recreation ecology have focused on behavioural changes resulting from direct interactions between humans and wildlife including provisioning. However, non-consumptive, non-provisioning human im pacts may also result in persiste...

© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org W recreation and tourism activities in parks, wilderness, and protected areas continue to show trends of increasing participation (Cordell 2008; Balmford et al. 2009). Associated with this rise in visitation are anthropogenic disturbances that result in environmental impacts, which in turn raise concerns as to whether recreation and...

Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) are invasive predators established throughout the Wider Caribbean. They have already caused significant ecological impacts and have the potential to affect local economies that depend on coral reefs. Snorkeling and scuba diving are important activities that rely on esthetically pleasant reefs. We asked whether lionfish-invaded reefs have low...

Tourism based on interactions with wildlife is increasing in popularity across the world. A conceptual framework is presented which begins to classify the major components of wildlife tourism/recreation and indicates the roles of and the relationship between these components. It is suggested that the values of conservation, animal welfare, visitor satisfaction, and pro"tability are often in con...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of medical tourism in Thailand and the impact of such tourism on the Thai health system and economy. METHODS In 2010, we checked the records of all visits to five private hospitals that are estimated to cover 63% of all foreign patients. We reviewed hospital records of foreign patients and obtained data on their countries of origin, d...

visitor management is considered important for the sustainable development of protected areas as the presence of visitors may cause negative impacts on wildlife and vegetation. within this framework, visitor impacts and perceptions are considered critical for decision-making and planning of future management regimes. this paper resumes opinions of visitors of the valley of butterflies in rhode...

New technology has been seen as a way for many businesses in the tourism industry to stay competitive and enhance their marketing campaign in various ways. AR has evolved as the buzzword of modern information technology and is gaining increasing attention in the media as well as through a variety of use cases. This trend is highly fostered across mobile applications as well as the hype of weara...

BACKGROUND Medical tourism is now targeted by many hospitals and governments worldwide for further growth and investment. Southeast Asia provides what is perhaps the best documented example of medical tourism development and promotion on a regional scale, but interest in the practice is growing in locations where it is not yet established. Numerous governments and private hospitals in the Carib...