Investigating the Influence of Medical Tourists’ Experience on Brand Loyalty in Tehran Medical Centers

Medical tourism has considerably developed in recent years. Many patients travel to other countries to receive healthcare services. In this regard, medical tourists’ positive experiences of the services they receive make them loyal to the destination, being influenced by the prestige and reputation of the target destination and the patient’s perceived value of the healthcare centers’ brands. Therefore, as Tehran possesses the most advanced medical centers, including hospitals, clinics, and specialty clinics, this applied descriptive-correlational study sought to investigate the influence of medical tourists’ experience on destination loyalty, taking the intervening role of prestige and perceived value of the target medical centers’ brands into account. To this end, the required data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire. The population consisted of medical tourists who visited medical centers in District 1 of Tehran, out of whom 384 individuals were selected through convenience sampling. Finally, the collected data were analyzed via SPSS (Version 25) and Smart pls3 software using the Structural Equation Modeling. The study’s findings indicated that medical tourists’ experience exerted a positive significant influence on the destination’s prestige, perceived value, and loyalty. Moreover, it was found that the loyalty to the destination increased by an increase in medical tourists’ experience. Therefore, the prestige and perceived value of the destination’s medical centers must be greatly attended to.