Assess Factors Affecting Development of Domestic Medical Tourism, Case Study of Ahvaz Metropolis

Medical tourism is nowadays an important and growing phenomenon in the world. Iran has long been one of the active centers of medical tourism in the Middle East. At the same time, there have always been concerns about the challenges and opportunities for attracting medical tourists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting medical tourism development in Ahvaz metropolis. The type of applied research is developmental and the method of documentary and survey study. SPSS software was used for data analysis. The statistical population of this study included medical tourists coming to metropolis of Ahwaz 384 people. The results show that 6 factors have an important role in medical tourism development. Pearson coefficient (-0.49) has negative and inverse relationship with price of medical services. But the Pearson coefficient decreases with regard to the quality of medical services (0.41), culture (0.39), facilities (0.38) and experienced and experienced physicians (0.42), advertising and information. (0.44) is positive and has direct direction. As the standardized Beta coefficient shows, the price factor with an impact factor of - 0.612 has the first rank and culture with an effect factor of 0.412 has the least effect on the development of Ahwaz metropolitan internal tourism. At the end, some suggestions for medical tourism development in Ahwaz metropolis are presented which require serious attention of policy makers, planners, cultural heritage and tourism organizations and health sector managers.Keywords: Tourism, Medical Tourism, Health Services, Ahwaz Metropolis.