Strategic Analysis of Shiraz Medical Tourism Industry: A Mixed Method Study

The connection between healthcare and tourism industries in many countries has created one of the largest service industries, i.e. "medical tourism industry". Medical tourism services bring significant benefits to the countries. This study aimed to examine internal and external factors affecting Shiraz medical tourism industry as well as the potential capabilities of the industry. This applied research is a mixed method study using both qualitative and quantitative methods in 2017. The study population consisted of all organizations involved in the medical tourism industry. In this study, the deductive qualitative content analysis was employed to determine the internal and external factors affecting Shiraz medical tourism industry. Furthermore, the SWOT technique was used to analyze the data obtained from individual interviews and meetings with expert panels. Internal and external factors were classified into 4 main themes (namely strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and 10 sub-themes, of which five cases (FORMM) were related to internal factors (i.e. finance, production and products (operations), research and development, marketing and management) and five cases (STEPC) were associated with external factors including socio-cultural, technology, economy, political and competitive ones. Also, the matrix of the internal and external factors indicated an offensive zone for this industry. This industry can make use of the strengths and opportunities to confront the threats and negative points through identifying internal and external factors in order to enjoy benefits such as job creation and revenue gains.