Determining the mediating role of influencers in health tourism awareness in social media marketing activities

In recent years, health tourism has become a rapidly growing sector in the globalizing world. Factors such as the long life of health, waiting conditions and quality differences direct individuals to health services abroad. In this context, social media provides protection as an effective tool in health tourism marketing. Influencers who can reach large audiences on social media platforms play an important role in creating a permanent presence in the field of health tourism. For this purpose, influencers play a mediating role in order to have information about health tourism within the scope of social media marketing activities. The study aims to analyze the abilities of influencers in the decision-making process of the potential patient audience in the health tourism sector. In particular, the reliability, authority and communication of influencers with their follower audience explain how the messages of health tourism service providers are based on the target audience. The research was carried out using an explanation of qualitative and quantitative methods. The methods, user experiences and feedback rates of influencers who share content for health tourism on social media were analyzed. The findings show that influencers are an important tool in increasing health tourism and creating a positive perception on the target audience. In addition, it is emphasized that influencer collaborations are critical in the management of a reliable brand image. As a result, it shows the contents that include the integration of works that affect social media marketing systems operating in the health tourism sector. This is not only limited to permanent creation, but also provides international competitive advantage. In this context, the detailed planning of influencer selection and collaboration changes is a protection that stands out as an important factor in increasing success.