Abstract:

Health tourism is an area that is developing at a global level and is becoming a strategic sector in terms of national economies, and in this aspect, health tourism is considered the driving engine of the economy. In this study, the factors that affect the destination preferences of international health tourists who prefer Turkey were focused on. For this purpose, the preferred Medical Tourism Index consists of 4 dimensions and health tourism destination preferences are explained with these four dimensions. Interviews were conducted with 42 participants from different countries who preferred our country for health tourism. As a result of the content analysis, themes (pushing and pulling factors) were revealed. The analysis show that patients who prefer our country for health tourism purposes are affected by factors related to health facilities and services, as Turkey being a tourist destination, as well as health costs in Turkey are affordable and environmental factors, respectively. In the light of the findings of this study, it may be suggested that the quality of our health facilities and specialist doctors should be highlighted and promoted first; that the tourism potential of our country will enable health tourism, and then focus on cost factors and environmental factors should be emphasized.

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