Thermal awareness and health literacy level of thermal tourists: The case of Bolu province

Today, health has become not only a necessity but also a conscious way of life. This transformation increases the interest in thermal tourism and leads people to prefer thermal destinations to improve their health and quality of life. The aim of this research is to evaluate the thermal tourism awareness and health literacy levels of thermal tourists and to determine the effects of socio-demographic characteristics on these levels. This research was conducted with 406 people visiting thermal facilities in Bolu Province. The data of the study were collected through Sociodemographic Data Form, Thermal Awareness Questionnaire and Turkish Health Literacy Scale (TSOY-32). Data were evaluated using descriptive statistics, independent sample t test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis in SPSS 22.0 analysis program. The mean age of the participants was 42.23 ± 13.78 years, 57.9% were female and 42.1% were male. There are significant differences in the thermal awareness of the participants according to their gender, age, having a chronic disease and the purpose of coming to the thermal facility. The health literacy levels of the participants show significant differences according to their gender, age, having a chronic disease in their first-degree relatives and the purpose of coming to the thermal facility (p<0.05). There is a positive and moderately significant relationship between participants' thermal awareness and health literacy. It was also revealed that health literacy had a positive effect on participants' thermal awareness and predicted 16% of their thermal awareness. The fact that health literacy enables individuals to make informed decisions about thermal resources plays an important role in strengthening thermal awareness. The potential of this relationship provides important contributions to the sector by enabling more informed choices in the field of tourism.