Estimation of health foreign tourism demand in different regions of Iran

Health tourism is of great importance due to its high capacity to earn foreign exchange and Iran's potential in the field of medicine, as well as the existence of suitable natural resources (hot springs and salt domes, salt water lakes and sludge treatment facilities). However, Iran's share of the health tourism market is small, despite its high capacity. Therefore, measuring the sensitivity of foreign health tourism demand in different regions of Iran to effective factors is necessary to increase Iran's share of foreign health tourism. Therefore, in this study, using the almost ideal demand (AIDS) with the help of the system of simultaneous equations, the health tourism demand function is estimated. For this purpose, using the questionnaire, the opinion of 216 foreign tourists in the two fields of medical tourism (medical) and prevention (health) has been obtained and it has been estimated using the system of simultaneous equations. According to the results of the near-ideal demand estimate, the price elasticity of health tourism demand (both treatment and prevention) is greater than one, while the price elasticity of other goods and accommodation services is less than one. Also, according to the sensitivity results of health tourists' demand (separately for treatment and prevention), the corresponding variables are significant coefficients such as tourist income, visa duration, price, expenses, exchange rate changes, inflation rate in Iran. In the field of medical tourism demand, the variables of waiting time for receiving services, physician reputation and specialty and in the field of health tourism demand, the variables of accommodation quality, level of medical capacities, level of cooperation between tourism agencies and medical centers and health tourism facilities They have been influential in health tourism demand.