A New Dimension in Global Health Tourism: A Bibliometric Perspective On Birth Tourism

Öz

This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the literature on birth tourism, which is a new concept in health tourism, and aims to develop a comprehensive perspective on the theoretical framework of the concept, its importance at the global level, the motivation factors of individuals, preferred destinations, and its health and economic effects through bibliometric analysis technique. WOSviewer 1.6.18 program was used for data analysis. The data consisted of 214 studies in the Scopus database with “birth tourism, maternity tourism, reproductive tourism, perinatal tourism, medical tourism for childbirth” in the title or keywords. As a result of the literature review, it has been observed that studies on birth tourism generally focus on citizenship acquisition and political debates, while issues such as health service provision are not sufficiently addressed, and it has been concluded that new research from different perspectives is needed to overcome the lack of data in this field.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Birth Tourism
• Health Tourism
• Bibliometric Analysis
• Scopus Database
• WOSviewer

Küresel Sağlık Turizminde Yeni Bir Boyut: Doğum Turizmine Bibliyometrik Bir Bakış

Öz

Bu çalışma, sağlık turizminde yeni bir kavram olan doğum turizmi literatürünün kapsamlı bir analizini sunmayı amaçlamakta olup; kavramın teorik çerçevesi, küresel düzeydeki önemi, bireylerin motivasyon unsurları, tercih edilen destinasyonlar ile sağlık ve ekonomik etkileri hakkında bibliyometrik analiz tekniği aracılığıyla kapsamlı bir bakış açısı geliştirmeyi hedeflemektedir. Verilerin analizinde WOSviewer 1.6.18 programı kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri Scopus veri tabanında başlık veya anahtar kelimeler içerisinde; “birth tourism, maternity tourism, reproductive tourism, perinatal tourism, medical tourism for childbirth” kelime grubu geçen 214 çalışmadan oluşmaktadır. Literatür incelemesi sonucunda, doğum turizmiyle ilgili çalışmaların genellikle vatandaşlık edinme ve politik tartışmalara odaklandığı, sağlık hizmet sunumu gibi konuların ise yeterince ele alınmadığı görülmüş, bu alandaki veri eksikliğinin giderilmesi için farklı perspektiflerden yapılacak yeni araştırmalara ihtiyaç duyulduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Doğum Turizmi
• Sağlık Turizmi
• Bibliyometrik Analiz
• Scopus Veritabanı
• WOSviewer

Kaynakça

1. CDC. Immigrant and Refugee Health. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2016 https://www.cdc.gov/immigrant-refugee-health/ (Erişim tarihi 27 Mayıs 2025)
2. Samarrai Y. Canadian’t: Policy Options to Address Birthright Citizenship for Tourists. Burnaby (BC): Simon Fraser University; 2020.
3. Solarin SA, Bello MO, Lasisi TT, Bekun FV. Modelling the determinants of birth tourism demand: a time series analysis. Curr Issues Tour. 2025;28(7):1116-34. doi:10.1080/13683500.2024.2325481
4. UNWTO. International tourism highlights, 2024 edition. Madrid: World Tourism Organization; 2024 https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/10.18111/9789284425808 (Erişim tarihi 29 Mayıs 2025)
5. Lei WSC, Suntikul W, Chen Z. Tourism development induced social change. Ann Tour Res Empir Insights. 2023;4(1):100088.
6. Pérez-Rodríguez JV, Ledesma-Rodriguez F. Unconditional quantile regression and tourism expenditure: The case of the Canary Islands. Tour Econ. 2021;27(4):626-48.
7. Güneş G. Turizm Türleri ve Turizm Politikaları, Dünyada ve Türkiye’de Sağlık Turizmi. In: Tengilimoğlu D, editor. Sağlık Turizmi. Ankara: Siyasal Kitapevi; 2013. p. 17-46.
8. Rhama B. The halal tourism – alternative or mass tourism? Indications of traditional mass tourism on crescent rating guidelines on halal tourism. J Islam Mark. 2022;13(7):1492-514.

9. Zhang P, Wang J, Li R. Tourism-type ontology framework for tourism-type classification, naming, and knowledge organization. Heliyon. 2023;9(4):e15192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15192
10. Kaygısız NÇ. Turizmde güncel eğilimler: kavramsal bir değerlendirme. Erciyes Akademi. 2022;36(1):213-27.
11. Acar N, Turan A. Sağlık çalışanlarının sağlık turizmi farkındalığı üzerine bir araştırma: Ahi Evran Üniversitesi Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi çalışanları örneği. CÜ İktisadi ve İdari Bilim Derg. 2016;(Dec).
12. Sevim E. Sağlık Turizmi. In: Ünal A, editor. Türk Sağlık Sistemi: Tarihsel Süreç-Hizmet Sunumu-Uygulamalar. Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi; 2021. p. 495-524.
13. Sevim E. Medikal Turizm ve Stratejik Analiz. 1st ed. Ankara: Nobel Yayıncılık; 2019.
14. Dağ E, Demir Y, Kılınç ZA, Yazıcıoğlu B. Perception of medical tourism image from the perspective of healthcare professionals: The case of Turkey. J Tour Manag Res. 2024;11(1):38-48.
15. Kuzhan K, Gönen S. Türkiye’de sağlık turizmi ve pazarı üzerine bir değerlendirme. Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi İİBF Derg. 2024;14(1):27-50.
16. Buzcu Z, Birdir K. Türkiye’de medikal turizm incelemesi: özel hastanelerde bir çalışma. Gaziantep Univ J Soc Sci. 2019;18(1):311-27.
17. Khan MJ, Chelliah S, Haron MS. International patients’ travel decision making process-A conceptual framework. Iran J Public Health. 2016;45.
18. Pařízková A, Clausen JA. Women on the move: A search for preferred birth services. Women Birth. 2019;32(4):e483-91.
19. Çolakoğlu Ü, Işık C. Sağlık turizmi tipolojisi. In: Turizmde Güncel Gelişmeler ve Yaklaşımlar. Konya: Çizgi Kitabevi; 2024. p. 126-47.
20. Balta E, Altan-Olcay Ö. Strategic citizens of America: Transnational inequalities and transformation of citizenship. Ethn Racial Stud. 2016;39(6):939-57.
21. Nori M. Asian/American/Alien: Birth tourism, the racialization of Asians, and the identity of the American citizen. Hastings Women’s LJ. 2016;27:87.
22. Brar S, et al. Impact of birth tourism on health care systems in Calgary, Alberta. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22(1):120.
23. Lollman J. The significance of parental domicile under the Citizenship Clause. Va Law Rev. 2015;101(2):455-500. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24363229
24. Ji Y, Bates BR. “Better than bank robbery”: Yuezi centers and neoliberal appeals to market birth tourism to pregnant Chinese women. Health Commun. 2018;33(4):443-52.
25. Gabor MR, Oltean FD. Babymoon tourism between emotional well-being service for medical tourism and niche tourism: Development and awareness on Romanian educated women. Tour Manag. 2019;70:170-5.
26. Wang SH. Fetal citizens? Birthright citizenship, reproductive futurism, and the “panic” over Chinese birth tourism in southern California. Environ Plann D. 2017;35(2):263-80.
27. Hayes-Klein H. Human Rights in Childbirth. Opening remarks at the first Human Rights in Childbirth Conference; 2012 Jun 1; The Hague, Netherlands.
28. Lu R. Look who’s walking: Chinese birth tourism goes stateside. Foreign Policy. 2014;25.
29. Foster CH. Anchor babies and welfare queens: An essay on political rhetoric, gendered racism, and marginalization. Women Gend Fam Color. 2017;5(1):50-72.
30. Center for Immigration Studies. Birth Tourism: Facts and Recommendations. Washington (DC): Center for Immigration Studies; 2020.
31. Altan-Olcay Ö, Balta E. The American Passport in Turkey: National Citizenship in the Age of Transnationalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; 2020.
32. Kugler MD. Current developments in immigration law: The debate surrounding “birth tourism”. Georgetown Immigr Law J. 2018;32(3).
33. Spiro PJ. At Home in Two Countries: The Past and Future of Dual Citizenship. New York: New York University Press; 2016.
34. Wang SH. Intra-Asian infrastructures of Chinese birth tourism: Agencies’ operations in China and Taiwan. In:
35. Chan YW, Koh SY, editors. New Chinese Migrations: Mobilities and Inspirations. London: Routledge; 2018. p. 112-27.
36. Cheng KM. Medical tourism: Chinese maternity tourism to Hong Kong. Curr Issues Tour. 2016;19(14):1479-86.
37. Sajons C. Birthright citizenship and parental labor market integration. Labour Econ. 2019;57(C):1-22.
38. Scopus. Search results for “birth tourism” OR “maternity tourism” OR “reproductive tourism” OR “perinatal tourism” OR “medical tourism for childbirth”. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2025
39. https://www.scopus.com/results/results.uri?s=%28TITLE-ABS-KEY%28%22birth+tourism%22%29... (Erişim tarihi 16 Mayıs 2025)
40. Inhorn MC, Patrizio P. Rethinking reproductive “tourism” as reproductive “exile”. Fertil Steril. 2009;92(3):904-6.
41. Pennings G. Reproductive tourism as moral pluralism in motion. In: Reproductive technologies: a reader. London: Sheed and Ward; 2002. p. 99-112.
42. Pennings G. Legal harmonization and reproductive tourism in Europe. Hum Reprod. 2004;19(12):2689-94.
43. Kayalı D. Milletlerarası taşıyıcı annelik sonucu doğan çocuğun soybağına uygulanacak hukuk. Public Private Int Law Bull. 2024;44(1):221-52. doi:10.26650/ppil.2023.44.1.1424263
44. Bozkaya Ş, Kum H. Neoklasik makro göç kuramı çerçevesinde uluslararası göç: En çok göç alan ülkeler üzerine bir analiz. Int J Soc Inquiry. 2022;15(1):177-94. doi:10.37093/ijsi.1007970.
45. Birch C. Birth Tourism - Possible Solutions. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2023 Jun;45(6):389-390. doi: 10.1016/j.jogc.2023.03.012. PMID: 37244744.
46. Brar S, Kale M, Birch C, Mattatall F, Vaze M. Impact of birth tourism on health care systems in Calgary, Alberta. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Jan 28;22(1):120. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-07522-4. PMID: 35090457; PMCID: PMC8798307.
47. Medhekar A. Birth Tourism Overseas for Citizenship Rights: Challenges, Opportunities, and Policy Implications. Exploration of Prenatal Tourism and Birthright Citizenship (2025): 289-318.
48. Yu B, Kun Z. ‘It’s more foreign than a foreign country’: adaptation and experience of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Tertiary Edu. and Manag. 22.4 (2016): 300-315.