Service marketing mix application to medical tourism: The case of Antalya

Marketing activities in the health sector nowadays has become a separate specialty in the health field; due to increase in the number of health care organizations, and rivalry, rising costs, excess capacity, consumer awareness and for these kind of reasons it has more importance day by day. Along with the growing status of marketing activities, medical tourists' thoughts about these activities have also become an essential issue. The purpose of the research is to determine in what extend patients/consumers who get service from private health institutes with concept of medical tourism attach importance to marketing activities and how it reflects their preferences; are discussed in terms of 7P (Product, Place, Price, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People, and Process Management). Data were collected in five private hospitals and one medical center in Antalya province through questionnaire from a total of 234 medical tourists who were treated in there. The obtained data is aimed to contribute to improvement of appropriate marketing mix strategies to customers' expectations, as well as demand, achieving customer satisfaction, and successful marketing activities for companies. Keywords, Medical Tourism, International Patient, Foreign Patient, Marketing Mix,Marketing in Healthcare Sector