Health Travel Clusters: Aligning Objectives and Measures of Success

For any type of organization to succeed, it needs clear objectives that will deliver its vision and mission. As it implements its strategy and tactics, the organization measures its success in fulfilling those objectives. Many health travel clusters experience a disconnect between what they say they should be doing and what they are measuring, leading them on a path to disappointment or a slow and painful death.

By Elizabeth Ziemba

President, Medical Tourism Training

Leveraging her background in business, public health, and law, Elizabeth Ziemba delivers practical, patient-centric solutions to complex cluster architectures worldwide. Temos representative for the US and Latin America.

Objectives that Match Function

A cluster of any type whether for health, health travel or medical tourism, is a specific, well-defined economic entity. The term “cluster” has a precise, established description as to what it is, what it can do, its potential economic impact, and other characteristics. The leading global guru of cluster economics is Prof. Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School.

Prof. Porter defines clusters as “geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries and associated institutions (e.g., universities, standards agencies, trade associations) in a particular field that compete but also cooperate”.

The overall objective of any cluster is economic development driven by core and supporting entities working together efficiently. For health travel clusters, success requires long-term commitment, strong leadership, and focus on building operational and technical capacity rather than getting distracted by member marketing and branding.

Clarity of Objectives

Cluster management demands substantial resources and foundational clarity regarding governance, financing, and roles. While surveys show common cluster objectives include lobbying and training, misplaced focuses—such as creating member marketing portals—ignore individual branding responsibilities and ultimately distract clusters from their core functions.