Identification and Analysis of Indicators Affecting the Choice of Health Tourism Destination from the Perspective of Elderly Medical Tourists

The pattern of population growth in the world shows a growing trend towards old age, and this itself has become the origin of creating a global approach in the 21st century. With the increase in the rate of aging in the world population and the increase in the number of elderly people, one of the industries for which this part of the market seems attractive in the last few decades is the tourism industry. Medical tourism is one of the proper activities for the elderly to bring back and improve their physical and mental aspects. Due to the fact that understanding the destination selection process of elderly medical tourists is very important for governments, tourism organizations and tour operators in the field of global competition, in this research, first by reviewing the literature in the field of medical tourism for the elderly, the necessary dimensions and indicators present in the medical tourism destinations required by this group of health tourists have been identified, and in the next step, using the analytical methodology of "interpretive structural modeling", the relationships between dimensions and factors affecting the choice of health tourism destination from the perspective of elderly medical tourists have been determined and analyzed in an integrated manner. The results of this study indicate that the factors of medical centers having specialized and trained human resources in various medical-psychiatric aspects related to elderly medical tourists, humanitarian view and proper treatment of doctors and medical staff, the existence of comfort and recreational facilities around the medical centers to increase the comfort and security of tourists, the ability of hospitals and medical centers to provide services, suitable accommodation facilities for elderly medical tourists, and reducing the visit and examination time of elderly medical tourists are among the most important and prominent indicators necessary to attract elderly medical tourists to a health tourism destination.