List of Articles Health Tourism

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  1 - The Effect of Perceived Service Quality, Satisfaction and Trust of Health Tourists on Their Revisiting and Reusing the Hospitals and
       
  Health tourism is becoming a developing sector in the tourism industry. It involves economic grounds; creates job opportunities; introduces different cultures; and even holds political interests for the countries. Health tourism has many economic benefits for the countr More

  Health tourism is becoming a developing sector in the tourism industry. It involves economic grounds; creates job opportunities; introduces different cultures; and even holds political interests for the countries. Health tourism has many economic benefits for the countries that are active in this industry. Health tourism is an emerging field, and there are serious competitions among countries that try to attract health tourists and keep them satisfied during their stay. This study aims to investigate the effect of perceived service quality, satisfaction, and trust of health tourists revisiting and reusing the hospitals and health centers in Mashhad. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Based on a judgmental sampling method, 206 people were selected from the international health tourists. Structural equation modeling was employed. Results confirmed there was a direct and positive relation between the perceived service quality and the customers’ satisfaction. Also, the hypothesis proved the positive effect of customers’ satisfaction on their trusting healthcare centers and their staff. Results also approved the effect of customers’ trust on their future decisions to return to the same places of treatments. Manuscript profile
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  2 - Identifying Institutional Factors Influencing the Exploitation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Health-Tourism in Iran: a qualitative study of Tehran province
  Kamal Sakhdari nader seyedamiri Alireza Rajaian Javad Sakhdari
  Despite many potentials in health tourism in Iran, few entrepreneurial behaviors tried to use them. The nexus theory of actor-opportunity suggests that entrepreneurial behaviors result from a suitable combination of actors and the supporting environment. Institutional f More

  Despite many potentials in health tourism in Iran, few entrepreneurial behaviors tried to use them. The nexus theory of actor-opportunity suggests that entrepreneurial behaviors result from a suitable combination of actors and the supporting environment. Institutional factors are among the important elements of a supporting context for entrepreneurship. This qualitative research aimed to identify institutional factors that influenced the exploitation of health-tourism opportunities in Tehran province. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs and health tourism experts. Interviewees were selected using targeted and snowball methods. This study took place in Tehran, April to July 2015. We introduced four categories of institutional factors: regulatory, normative, cognitive and supportive. These categories form the essential factors for exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities in health tourism in Iran focusing on the capital city of Tehran. Manuscript profile
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  3 - Assessing the Elasticity of Health Tourism Demand from Middle Eastern Countries
  hamid  asayesh mahdi kamali hadi rahmani fazli
  10.52547/journalitor.35928.11.21.145
  Comprising medical and health (prevention) types of tourism, health tourism is of great importance for Iran, considering the country’s potential medical capabilities (the presence of qualified practicing physicians and extensive medical and treatment facilities) and app More

  Comprising medical and health (prevention) types of tourism, health tourism is of great importance for Iran, considering the country’s potential medical capabilities (the presence of qualified practicing physicians and extensive medical and treatment facilities) and appropriate natural health resources (such as hot springs, salt domes, salt lakes, and Mud therapy facilities). Moreover, the capacity of health tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings is more than three times than that of ordinary international tourism. However, despite its great capacities, Iran has a modest share of the health tourism market, the increase in which requires the assessment of the elasticity of health tourism demand from the Middle East in terms of the relevant effective factors. Therefore, this study sought to find answers to the following basic questions: 1- What are the factors affecting the demand for health tourism? 2- What is the elasticity of the demand for health tourism in terms of such factors? To this end, this study assessed the demand for health tourism using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) and the simultaneous equation Model. Moreover, a questionnaire was administered to 182 tourists coming from the Persian Gulf countries to express their opinion regarding health tourism and estimate the elasticity of health tourism demands in terms of relevant effective factors. The results of the AIDS estimations revealed that the price elasticity of health tourism demand was greater than one, while the price elasticity of other products and accommodation services was less than one. Moreover, it was found that the elasticity of health tourists' demand from Iran belonged to significant variables such as the tourist’s income level, visa validity, expenses, exchange rate variations, and the inflation rate. Manuscript profile
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  4 - Developing a Cultural-Indices-based Model of Health Tourism in Iran
  samaneh barkhordari
  10.52547/journalitor.35931.11.21.257
  The globalization of health means patients travel to other countries to receive medical treatment. Nowadays, healthcare is a global phenomenon. On the other hand, the establishment of multi-national hospitals, the competitive costs of healthcare worldwide, the internati More

  The globalization of health means patients travel to other countries to receive medical treatment. Nowadays, healthcare is a global phenomenon. On the other hand, the establishment of multi-national hospitals, the competitive costs of healthcare worldwide, the internationalization of standards, and the fact that different countries are getting closer to each other in terms of specialized technologies are some indications of the globalization of healthcare. This applied exploratory study sought to develop a model for health tourism based on cultural indices in Iran using a mixed method. Accordingly, the required data were collected via semi-structured interviews and questionnaires at qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. The statistical population of the study comprised of senior officials involved in health tourism policy making, professionals of Iran’s health tourism industry, and professors and faculty members in management who specialized in tourism and cultural studies, out of whom 100 participants were selected using Cochran’s formula. Finally, after multiple reviewing of the codes and combining them in several phases, some sixty-six sub-codes were identified, out of which eleven key factors were identified to be included in the intended cultural-indices-based model for health tourism in Iran. Manuscript profile
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  5 - Investigating the Role of Residents' Support for Health Tourism Development in Marketing Using the Cognitive Mapping Approach: A Case Study of Isfahan’s Healthcare Town
  mahnaz Doosti-Irani Mir Mohammad  Asadi
  10.61186/journalitor.36247.11.23.63
  Focusing on "the residents' support for the development of health tourism" as a variable that could be considered by marketers to increase demands for this kind of tourism, this study sought to investigate the variables affected by the residents' support and prepare a f More

  Focusing on "the residents' support for the development of health tourism" as a variable that could be considered by marketers to increase demands for this kind of tourism, this study sought to investigate the variables affected by the residents' support and prepare a fuzzy cognitive map of such factors using a systemic model. To this end, the aforementioned variables were identified using the Delphi technique. Then, the research model was developed and analyzed using fuzzy cognitive mapping. The findings of the study suggested that the residents' support affected factors such as the destination image, tourist satisfaction, tourist loyalty, positive advertisements by word of mouth, perceived quality of services, tourists' emotional solidarity with the residents, and spatial belonging of tourists to destinations. Moreover, the results of fuzzy cognitive mapping showed that in a system consisting of the above-mentioned variables, the residents' support played a significant role in tourist loyalty and positive word-of-mouth advertisement, with its impact being greater than that of satisfaction or even service quality. In other words, winning the residents' support is a priority in this regard. Moreover, residents' support affects other relevant factors, including perceived quality, tourist satisfaction, spatial belonging, and emotional attachment. Therefore, gaining the residents’ support is highly recommended to be considered in marketing health tourism. Considering the research gaps in this field, the results of the current study could be used for enriching the related literature. Manuscript profile