Abstract:

Medical tourism is a burgeoning industry in the world. Nowadays, over 50 countries have been identified medical tourism as a national industry. Although Asian countries where India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia popular medical tourism destination, medical tourism in Turkey has not reached the desired level and and could not get enough share of the medical tourism market. The aim of this study is to determine the factors influencing the development of medical tourism in Turkey. This research was carried out at  public hospitals in Turkey. This study  was adopted qualitative and descriptive research method in this study. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with managers. The research population is constitutes who served of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, Adana and Kocaeli in public health institutions managers. The results of the research revealed that image problem, lack of promotion, capacity problems, health policies and regulations, specialist/labor shortages, language and communication problems, lack of tourist facilities and ınfrastructure problems are main factor the development of medical tourism in Turkey.

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