Evaluation of medical tourism components from the marketing mix perspective: The case of Muğla

The medical tourism market which emerged as a sub-branch of health tourism as people travel to other countries for treatment is a rapidly growing market with the 2000s. Until the end of the twentieth century, while high-income developing country citizens were traveling to developed countries in order to reach treatments that were not available in their own countries, the direction of travel changed from developed countries to developing countries with the entry of developing countries into the market. Thus, the medical tourism market has shown great development with its advanced technology, quality service and reasonable price policy. The marketing mix is a conceptual framework that businesses use to develop their long and short-term strategies and tactics, forming all decision-making processes in the formation of their products according to the needs of the consumer. Muğla Province, one of the most important mass tourism destinations in Turkey has the potential to be an important destination in terms of medical tourism with its success in mass tourism, its location, transportation and accommodation opportunities, historical, natural and cultural wealth and health infrastructure. The aim of the thesis developed from this point of view is to evaluate the medical tourism components of Muğla Province within the scope of the marketing mix. This study was carried out with an exploratory research design and content analysis was made in the light of the data obtained from the literature and a data collection tool suitable for the purpose of the research was created and then the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method which enables complex problems to be solved in a hierarchical structure was used. The data collection tool which was prepared according to the AHP method which consists of 7 main criteria consisting of service marketing mix components and 26 sub-criteria connected to them, using pairwise comparison matrices was applied to 35 participants between 01 February - 15 March 2022 with judgmental and snowball sampling method. The data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel and Expert Choice programs and according to the findings, the main criterion of "Physical Evidence" was determined as the main criterion with the highest importance. The sub-criterias of treatment fee, doctor quality, ease of transportation, satisfaction of other customers, appearance of service providers and physical areas, medical tourism-oriented personalized health care and accurate information to patients about the process were determined as the most important sub-criterias within their groups.