The article justifies that modern medical and wellness tourism, built on the principle of inclusivity and digital transformation of the industry, is one of the most important tools capable of ensuring equal access to health maintenance, is a key indicator of the external competitiveness in the world. Based on the correlation analysis, there is no relationship between public health and global competitiveness before the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors’ position is that before the onset of a global epidemiological threat in 2020–2021, health was considered to be exclusively an institutional aspect of domestic policy, which was also widely accessible by different categories of citizens, including people with disabilities. Also, as a result of comparing the values of the world digital competitiveness rating and the international social development rating, the authors also concluded that certain areas of digital transformation (for example, telemedicine) have a significant impact on the social development of countries that are leaders in providing health and wellness and medical services.
Podolskaya et al. (Tue,) studied this question.