Medical tourism, health services trade, and economic outcomes: Perspectives from developing nations

Medical tourism now represents a fast-expanding branch of service trade in the world as a result of the intersection of healthcare and tourism. Although it has expanded, it is yet to consolidated evidence on its economic impact to developing countries. The systematic literature review of 44 empirical publications published between 2010 and 2025, using the Web of Science database, according to PRISMA, fills this gap. The review discusses the economic aspect of medical tourism and cross-border health service trade, the existing theoretical orientation and directions of further research. The results indicate that there are four interconnected thematic categories of dynamics of medical tourism, growth of health care sector, economic growth, and trade liberalization in health services. Endogenous Growth Theory presents itself as the reigning theory of knowledge diffusion and long-term growth as trade in healthcare services, whereas the Theory of Planned Behavior provides an insight into behavior of medical tourists as they make a decision. Still, the truth regarding the nexus of trade and growth is conditional and situational especially in the developing economies which are constrained structurally. The review indicates severe conceptual disjuncture, excessive use of quantitative research designs, and inadequate amalgamation of equity and governance views. It suggests an extended research agenda including the use of advanced econometric methods, mixed methods and expanded applications in context in understudied regions such as OIC and Asia-Pacific countries. By combining insights from economic, trade and behavioral perspectives, this study enhances the understanding of medical tourism as a multidimensional development phenomenon and provides policy-relevant information for emerging economies that want to use the trade of health services as an instrument for sustainable growth.