Abstract:

The aim of this research is to examine the factors (country environment, services/facilities, costs, tourism destination) which have impacts on preference of medical tourists by considering some socio-demographic qualities (gender, age, marital status, monthly income, education, continent/region). the Medical Tourism Index (MTI) of Fetscherin and Stephano’s (2016) study, which consists of four dimensions and 34 expressions, was used for this purpose. The factors in the scale were selected because they are among the factors that are also effective in choice of country and health institution of medical tourists. The population of the study consists of 302,416 medical tourists coming from abroad to be treated in Istanbul and Ankara, which are among the preferred cities in terms of medical tourism in Turkey. The sample of the study covered 415 medical tourists. As a result of the research; the “country environment” factor which is effective in medical tourism preference, differs according to gender, income status, education level and country of origin of the medical tourists; the “tourism destination” factor differs according to the income of medical tourists and the continent/region they come from; the factor of “medical tourism costs” differs according to the income of medical tourists and the continent/region they come from and, it has been determined that the "facility and services" factor differs according to the education level of the medical tourists and the continent/region they come from.

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