The attitudes of education, tourism and health sector managers in Northern Cyprus towards Education on Health Tourism

Abstract

This study aims to determine the attitudes of the shareholders in the health tourism sector in Northern Cyprus towards Education on Health Tourism and to constitute a basis for an educational model to be developed for health tourism. Qualitative (analytic) and descriptive, documentary source analysis, sampling and statistical methods, face-to-face interviews data collection technique were used in this study. The study population consists of the managers working in education, tourism and health sectors in Northern Cyprus. Using the simple random sampling, 310 people were selected and interviewed. A questionnaire with two sections was used to collect data. The first section included questions about participants’ introductory characteristics, and the second section was the Attitude towards Education on Health Tourism Scale. This scale was prepared in accordance with a literature review related to education on health tourism and to interviews performed with the experts from the education, tourism and health fields. The Scale was passed validity and reliability tests and was used in this study. The statements the participants agreed with most were: “Intermediate staff working in health, accommodation, transportation and other relevant sectors should be provided in-service training on health tourism” in the education subdimension.