The impact of Turkish foreign policy on the reasons of choosing Turkey of the tourist visiting turkey and the perception of Turkey in the scope of medical tourism

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of perception of Turkish foreign policy on the reasons of preference of medical tourists coming to Turkey. Also, measuring medical tourism's perception of Turkey is another purpose. For this purpose, firstly the topics of medical tourism and the factors affecting the reasons of preference in medical tourism has been examined to prepare the ground for work.Then, studies on medical tourism, the factors affecting the reasons of preference in medical tourism and Turkish foreign policy concepts have been examined. Thus, the conceptual dimension of work was created and the study is shaped by this conceptual dimension. For measuring the perception of Turkish foreign policy on the factors affecting the reasons of preference of medical tourists who prefer Turkey and the universe consists of medical tourists and their relatives coming to Turkey, it is the original value of this work. Quantitative research method was preferred as research method. Universe of research, it constitutes medical tourists and their relatives coming to Turkey for treatment purposes. Sampling technique is also used as sampling technique and 500 medical tourists and their relatives were interviewed. It was decided to use the survey technique as the data collection technique in the study. The preliminary application of the prepared questionnaire was done in Istanbul and the actual application has been realized on the positive validity and reliability tests of the data obtained by the preliminary application. The obtained data were analyzed using exploratory and descriptive statistical techniques with the aid of a computer program. In consequence of the findings obtained in this study, it has been seen that perception of Turkish foreign policy has a significant effect on the preferences of the patients who come to Turkey within the scope of medical tourism. In addition, perception of Turkish foreign policy is one of the factors affecting the preferences of medical tourists and it has been identified that it has the sixth level influence within the determined factors. Through such a study, the status of foreign politics within the reasons for preference has been revealed and it has been concluded that bilateral agreements between countries and positive political, cultural and economic relations have a significant effect on the preferences of medical tourists. In addition, It has been determined that the Turkey perception of medical tourists is positive, in the results of statistical analysis conducted to measure the Turkey perception by medical tourists.