Prioritization of Factors Related to Attracting Medical Tourists in Yazd City, Iran

Today, the medical tourism market has been raised as one of the revenue industries in the world. In the tourism industry, factors have a direct and important impact on boom and expansion that causes some countries to become a medical tourism pole. This study aimed at prioritizing factors related to the absorption of medical tourists in Yazd City, Iran.

In the first step, using the keywords such as "medical tourism, effective factors and absorption factors", Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database (SID), Magiran, Medlib, Civilica, and Irandoc were reviewed, and related factors with the absorption of tourists were extracted; and in the second stage, using the hierarchical analysis model, by the research community consisting medical tourists and experts in this area, these factors were prioritized.

Factors were identified in the two themes, seven subthemes, and 27 items; among them, the subtheme of the quality of health services, and item of the quality of the treatment staff had the most importance and priority from the viewpoint of medical tourists and experts in this area.

One of the ways to increase tourists attracting and influencing tourists to choose Iran as a destination country, is to increase the quality of services, especially medical services, along with reducing costs, and making them competitive.