Thermal tourism in terms of health tourism: Denizli example

Water has been an indispensable element of life since ancient times. People have relied on the healing power of water throughout history to protect their health and treat diseases. Health is undoubtedly the most valuable asset that people have in life. The rapid aging of the world population, increased environmental problems resulting from urbanization and industrialization have negative effect on human health. Therefore, people are turning towards health tourism to protect their health, to be fit and to recover from diseases. This provides the health tourism sector the opportunity to develop rapidly all over the world. This thesis aims to determine the problems of thermal tourism in Denizli, which is a part of health tourism, and to reveal its potential as well as to propose some solutions. To accomplish this, in the first part of our research, the general features of health tourism, its conceptual framework, standards, historical development, current status, potential and prospects are presented. In the second part, the use of thermal waters in health care, application types and characteristics are described. In the third part, thermal tourism vision, legislation, incentives and marketing issues are discussed. In the fourth part, Denizli's thermal tourism potential, the services offered by the thermal facilities and investment possibilities are examined. Key Words : Thermal tourism, health tourism, tourism diversity, thermal springs.