The level of awareness of health tourism among university students and its determinants; The example of Alanya

Health tourism has become an important sector by gaining a great momentum at the global level in recent years. This development in health tourism allows for a wide range of treatment and recovery processes to be offered at the international level. Conscious awareness practices in health tourism create positive changes in both the physical and mental health of patients by adding them to the treatment processes. The integration of conscious awareness practices within the scope of health tourism allows patients to conduct their treatment processes more effectively and gain general well-being. Thus, conscious awareness plays an important role in health tourism and contributes to the faster and more effective recovery of patients. Since university students can have an important role as potential consumers, decision makers or policy makers in this field, the awareness of this group about health tourism should be examined in detail. In addition, research on the awareness levels of university students about health tourism will provide valuable information for universities, local governments and health tourism operators at the point of raising awareness about health tourism and making strategic plans in this area. The development of health tourism policies and strategies can enable students and society in general to benefit from these services more effectively. However, health tourism can be a guide in the design and implementation of educational programs and awareness-raising campaigns. The main purpose of the study we planned for these reasons is to determine the awareness levels and determinants of university students studying at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University about health tourism. The secondary purpose of the research is to contribute to education and policy development studies aimed at increasing the level of awareness and knowledge about health tourism. The research is a cross-sectional type of study. The research universe will consist of undergraduate students studying at ALKU in the 2023-24 academic semester (n=8996). The sample size was determined as 99% confidence limit, 50% prevalence and 0.05 error level, and the minimum sample size was determined as 1236 by taking the pattern effect 2. In total, 1300 students were reached. In the study, the data were collected using two forms; personal promotion form, health tourism awareness scale. IBM SPSS v26 program was used for the analysis of the data. Descriptive statistics were used in the evaluation of the demographic data of the study. The relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and their awareness levels towards health tourism was evaluated by independent sample T-Test and one-way analysis of variance (AN Deca) tests. In the study, the variables that were significant in single analyses were analyzed with multiple linear regression. According to the research findings, it was determined that university students have a moderate level of awareness about health tourism. It was determined that demographic variables such as gender, age, education level, family income status, parents' education, social status and foreign language knowledge were significant on awareness levels. In addition, the awareness levels of students studying at the faculties of health sciences and tourism were found to be higher than others (p<0.05). An important result of the study is that according to the data obtained, health tourism is influenced by socio-economic factors. The study revealed that it is necessary to conduct educational programs and information campaigns for students in order to increase knowledge and awareness in the field of health tourism. It is also necessary to take into account the opinions of students in the development of health tourism policies and practices. The proposed strategies can maximize their contribution to the national economy by improving the overall performance of the health tourism sector.