The role and importance of accommodation businesses in the development of thermal tourism: The case of Afyon

Objective: The services that can be offered in thermal facilities in health tourism will be investigated and the most suitable examples for thermal facilities will be determined. The structural status and services of thermal facilities will be examined. Turkey cannot increase its share in the tourism sector sufficiently. Alternative tourism types are needed for this. Health tourism is the most important of these types. In order to get more share from health tourism, especially the role of accommodation establishments is very important. From this point of view, especially in thermal tourism, increasing the occupancy rates of accommodation establishments, extending the length of stay of guests in the facilities, providing longer stays in the country, raising service standards and increasing service quality depend on. In this study, it is aimed to determine the situation of accommodation establishments engaged in thermal tourism in Afyon, to examine their compliance with the standards and to make suggestions for eliminating their deficiencies. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted with a qualitative approach using an exploratory research design. By using the exploratory research design, it was tried to clarify why or how there is a relationship between two aspects of a situation or phenomenon. Data were collected within the prescribed time frame and analyzed using swot analysis. Findings: In the study, findings on how accommodation establishments are prepared for health tourism, what the contributions of health tourism can be for accommodation establishments, what the role of accommodation establishments can be in terms of health tourism, what phenomena and developments can be seen as a threat to the provision of health tourism services by accommodation establishments in Turkey or as an opportunity for health tourism, and to what extent they can be avoided or benefited from. Conclusion: In this study, it is expected that the results of the research will reveal the role and importance of accommodation businesses for thermal tourism in health tourism. The potential of thermal tourism in health tourism in the field of hospitality in Turkey will be emphasized. The findings are expected to reveal which aspects should be considered strong and emphasized in promotional activities, what kind of thermal services should be offered in hotel management, which weaknesses should be developed in facilities, which opportunities are waiting to be evaluated and what measures should be taken to avoid which threats. In the increase in health tourism activities, it is evaluated that there will be benefits such as supporting regional development, spreading tourism to the whole year, and transforming the potential that remains idle outside the summer season into value. Key Words: Health tourism services, Health tourism, Service types applied in thermal accommodation facilities. Thermal tourism enterprises, Thermal tourism management, Thermal tourism.