Health Tourism research

The growth of global medical tourism in the recent years had spurred the interest of many governments to join in the bandwagon, particularly from Asia. Using the SWOT analytical model, this paper provides pertinent comparative analysis of the medical tourism destinations here being Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and India. Each destination possesses its own value propositions to convince the demands of medical tourists. Malaysia and Thailand have a good mixture of elements (medical, tourism and wellness) to be an excellent medical tourism destination while Singapore and India need further development in some of these elements. Meeting or exceeding the medical tourists’ expectations and requirements are the priority of medical tourism destination marketers in ensuring a successful medical tourism industry development.

Dissertation/Thesis Presentation

The aim of this project was to identify the role of DMOs in promoting Athens as a tourist destination, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of marketing and managing the tourist product of Athens, its popularity and imagery.

ABSTRACT
The aim of this thesis is to identify the role of DMOs in promoting Athens as a tourist destination, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of marketing and managing the tourist product of Athens, its popularity and imagery. For that purposes, 6 personal interviews were conducted with executives who were working in 6 famous local DMOs operating both generally in Greece and specifically in Athens.

The result of this study indicated that DMOs are playing a crucial role for the promotion of Athens as a tourist destination. DMOs key responsibilities include: development of sophisticated online marketing strategies, creation of high quality published material, participation in international tourism fairs for developing relationships with key stakeholders and development of network synergies with airline companies, and international tourism organizations.
Athens is a destination with great potential for future growth and for that reason DMOs have designed certain plans for the next three years in order to exploit the opportunities which are presented. The future plans of the DMOs give particular emphasis in the opening in new tourist markets and more particularly in the markets of Russia, Turkey China, and USA. Besides, DMOs will focus in five forms of tourism which can be developed successfully in Athens, namely: 1) cultural tourism, 2) health tourism, 3) luxury tourism, 4) city break tourism, and 5) convention tourism

On the other hand, the executives of the DMOs underlined several problems which prevent the tourism development of Athens. The majority of these problems are related with the business environment in Greece which has become less competitive due to the crisis. Besides, the city as a destination faces the problems of seasonality as well as missing infrastructures.
Finally, the research showed that DMOs have established strong and long term relationships with DMOs in foreign countries. These partnerships allow the Greek DMOs to be updated concerning the trends of the global tourism market as well as enhance the movement of tourists between cooperating countries. Nevertheless, the promotion of Athens as a tourism destination requires a more concerted effort between the public and the private stakeholders which are involved in the tourism industry. The benefits will be multiplied for businesses, the state and the society in general.

Türkiye Turizm Stratejisi (2023) Vizyonunda Türkiye Sağlık Turizmi’nin Analizi  The Analysis of Turkey Health Tourism in the Vision of Turkey Tourism Strategy (2023)  Meltem UYGUN
Türkiye Turizm Stratejisi (2023) çalışma olarak Planlama, Yatırım, Örgütlenme, İç Turizm, Araştırma-Geliştirme (Ar-Ge), Hizmet, Ulaşım ve Altyapının Güçlendirilmesi, Tanıtım ve Pazarlama, Eğitim, Kentsel Ölçekte Markalaşma, Turizmin Çeşitlendirilmesi, Mevcut Turizm Alanlarının Rehabilitasyonu ve Varış Noktalarının Geliştirilmesi konularında uzun dönemli hedefler belirlemiştir. Türkiye Turizm Stratejisi (2023), ülkemizin doğal, kültürel, tarihi ve coğrafi değerlerini koruma-kullanma dengesi içinde kullanmayı ve turizm alternatiflerini geliştirerek ülkemizin turizmden alacağı payı arttırmayı hedef almaktadır. Türkiye Turizm Stratejisi (2023) ’ün öngördüğü hedeflerle ülkemizin her yanına dağılmış durumda bulunan sağlık, termal, yayla, kış ve dağ sporları, kültürel açıdan önemli yer ve yerleşmelerin tek tek ele alınmasından çok bunların birbirleriyle entegrasyonu sayesinde daha cazip ve daha güçlü alternatif varış noktaları ve güzergâhlar oluşturulması ana hedeflerdendir. Güçlü bir turizm güzergahı ve bölgesel varış noktası oluşturulması ile bu bölgeler içinde zayıf kalan yerleşmelerin kültür, el-sanatları, yeme-içme tesisleri ve konaklama imkanları ile güçlenmeleri de sağlanmış olacaktır. Bu çalışmada Türkiye Turizm Stratejisi (2023) vizyonu içerisinde önemli bir yere sahip olan Sağlık Turizmi ve sağlık turizmine bakış açısı, planlanan hedeflerle, T.C hükümetinin politika ve uygulamaları ve sağlık turizmindeki en son  gelinen durum ayrıntılı olarak ele alınmıştır.