Abstract
Today, combination of medicine and tourism has turned into a new form of industry called health tourism. Health tourism industry has experienced a dramatic growth over the last decade. This industry is an opportunity for hospitals to extend their services to patients from other countries. The present study aims to identify factors contributing to the attraction of medical tourism along with ranking factors affecting customer satisfaction of Persian Gulf Countries .For this purpose, after studying the existing literature and matching the resulting data with the environmental conditions of the study six factors “the expertise and skill level of the hospital staff”, “hospital facilities and equipments”, “costs”, “the way patients are treated by the staff and their relationship”, “shared beliefs and values”, “tourist and travel facilities” were determined and based on them questionnaires were designed and distributed to a number of patients of Persian Gulf Countries as well as the managers of the Razavi Hospital in Mashhad, where specialized medical tourism services are provided .Investigations indicated that from the viewpoint of both managers and patients, the most important factor affecting the attraction of the medical tourism of Razavi Hospital in Mashhad is the costs. These costs consist of medical expenses (such as hospital, medicine and tests costs), costs of travel and accommodation (such as hotel and guesthouse), transportation costs within the city and side expenditures (including visiting pilgrimage places and entertainment spots). Therefore, lowering the costs of medical treatments can be a strategy that the hospitals can benefit from in order to enter the medical tourism market.
Highlights
Tourism industry is one of the most important ways of attracting revenues today
These costs consist of medical expenses, costs of travel and accommodation, transportation costs within the city and side expenditures
World Tourism Organization (WTO) defines health tourism as “benefiting from services which result in improvement or increase in people’s physical and psychological health, using mineral water, favorable weather or medical interventions which happens in a place away from the individual’s residence and last more than 24 hours” (World Health Tourism)
Summary
Tourism industry is one of the most important ways of attracting revenues today. Devoting proper attention to this industry can provide employment opportunities as well as attracting revenues for the country. The attraction of these financial resources from the other side of the borders can play an important role in the development of the country. Due to the availability of the necessary potentials and resources for development, countries can greatly benefit from this industry. Medical tourism is considered one of the most important ways of attracting tourists. Realizing the importance of this need of the 21st century man, countries are determined to seize the existing opportunities in an area called “medical tourism”. World Tourism Organization (WTO) defines health tourism as “benefiting from services which result in improvement or increase in people’s physical and psychological health, using mineral water, favorable weather or medical interventions which happens in a place away from the individual’s residence and last more than 24 hours” (World Health Tourism)
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