The importance and development of medical tourism in the world and Turkey: A research in Antalya region

Health tourism is one of the most important alternative tourism types for sustainable tourism. When the current developments, technological innovations and the coordination between the servers of health tourism throughout the world are examined, it is clearly seen that Antalya and Turkey haven't reached the desired levels yet. Considering the contribution of health tourism to the country's economy, it is understood that the countries are in a great competition to get a share from this market. Many civil organizations, public and private health institutions and universities should work in cooperation to develop health tourism. While it is attempted to increase the income from traditional tourism to 1000 USD, the per capita expenditure in health tourism is between 5000 to 15.000 USD approximately. Therefore, the development of health tourism in Antalya province will contribute to the economy, welfare level, employment, the expansion of tourism to 12 months, the increase of health institutions, the implementation of new technologies in health, the acquisition of specialist doctors and health personnel, the improvement of transportation facilities, the increase of social and cultural activities, the development of foreign language education and public health. The promotion methods used by health institutions in the promotion of health tourism are through fairs, congresses, e-marketing and intermediary institutions. Health organizations also conduct market research, advertising and promotion in fairs and congresses. Besides, social media and on-site promotion are of great importance. Antalya's image, transportation facilities, professional multilingual health care team and specialists, modern technology and high quality health institutions, health tourism vision, qualified accommodation facilities and the coordination between the stakeholders play an important role in promoting health tourism. The aim of this thesis is to examine in detail the place and importance of health tourism in Turkey and Antalya region through a survey to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, problems, opportunities and threats to health tourism with social and economic aspects to make suggestions for the sector on these issues. The findings of the study show that the most important problems of health tourism in Antalya region are lack of promotion, marketing, political stability, trust and coordination. As a result, the most important problems of health tourism in Antalya have been identified and suggestions have been made for their solutions.