Determining the attitudes and behaviors towards Traditional and Complementary Medicine (TCM) practices and evaluation in terms of health tourism; the case of Alanya

Today, where globalization gains momentum, the ease of transportation, the increase in people's welfare levels, the increase in cooperation between countries, and the differences in quality and cost of health services in different parts of the world, have increased the importance of health tourism and the interest in this field. Tourists, who perform health tourism activities may prefer to use medical services, cure applications, rehabilitation, and various traditional treatment methods according to their disease status. In our study, it is aimed to evaluate the tourism potential of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (TCM) applications within the scope of health tourism and to determine the situation in Turkey through the example of Alanya. The questionnaire used in this study as a data collection tool consisted of three sections; socio-demographic information, information about TCM, and health tourism. The first part consisted of the personal information and basic health information of the participating individuals in this research. In the second part, there were questions to measure the knowledge levels of the participants about TCM applications. In the third part, there were questions about the experiences and thoughts of the participants about health tourism. Although the participants mostly (43.5%) stated that they have knowledge about TCM applications, the same majority could not be reached on the use of TCM (62%). As a result, we concluded that the most known TCM application is acupuncture, and the most used application is the cupping application. The majority of the participants stated that the promotional activities for TCM (59.5%) and health tourism (56.5%) are not sufficient. In this study, we also determined people's perspectives, level of knowledge, usage habits, and usage demands on TCM applications.