Providing a model of health tourism brand equity

Subject: 

The special value of the health tourism brand is the set of assets (or liabilities) of the brand in relation to the name and symbol of the tourism destination, which causes changes in the value of services and experiences that are determined there. Considering the characteristics and cultural, social and economic capacities of Iran's tourism destinations, in this research, a model for brand equity in health tourism has been tried, taken from the Acker model, which has been obtained according to Iran's conditions and studies. to be presented.

In this research, first, the meta-combination method of previous researches in this regard has been carefully studied. Then the mixture is applied, which includes a qualitative and quantitative method. First, the data analysis was performed with the Grounded  theory and with MAXQDA18 software and then using the structural equation method and with SMArtPLS software. The statistical population of this research for the qualitative part of the experts includes professors of marketing and health tourism specialists, and in the quantitative part of foreign users of health tourism services in Iran.

The results showed that the hospital brand equity is directly affected by brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, social responsibility, company value, customer value. As a result, at the national level, investing in this sector and branding and paying attention to the special value of the health tourism brand can make Iran one of the best destinations for health tourism in the world.