Medical tourism is the act of travelling to other countries to obtain medical, dental, and surgical care. A combination of many factors has lead to the recent increase in popularity of medical tourism: exorbitant costs of healthcare in industrialized nations, ease and affordability of international travel, favorable currency exchange rates in the global economy, rapidly improving technology and standards of care in many countries of the world.

Medical tourists are generally residents of the industrialized nations of the world and primarily come from The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Western Europe, Australia, and The Middle East. Currently medical tourists are traveling in large numbers to South and Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and South America, and North Africa although other places are beginning to tailor services aimed specifically at medical tourists as well.