Medical Tourism

The medical tourism industry comprises a combination of tourism and medical services and has attracted the attention of most developed and developing countries during the last decades. This industry has capacities which guarantee progress not only in the economic field, but also in the cultural and political spheres; capacities that can deliver great advantages and opportunities in promoting the power of countries. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the elements of medical tourism on the creation of new economic and political opportunities. Consistent with this purpose, the focus of this article was to investigate the reasons for the presence of Azerbaijani medical tourists in Iran and the common interests between the two countries. Following an analysis of prominent articles in this field, several factors such as culture, quality, infrastructure, cost, and destination image were identified and discussed in detail. The identified factors were used as the basis of a questionnaire seeking the views of experts active in the field of medical tourism, and the results evaluated using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method. The factors driving medical tourism were then classified according to their relative priority. The analysis of the experts’ points of view confirmed Iran's current position and future opportunities in the medical tourism industry.

In comprehensive urban development plan, a vision of Tehran has been considered as a world city. Tehran is also considered the regional medical center in the world of Islam in the comprehensive scientific map of Iran. In the era of globalization, medical tourism is a growing market in developing countries and has become one of fields of competition in regional development. According to the importance of strategic planning for the development of medical tourism in the globalization process, the effect of medical service globalization in the mega city of Tehran, and Tehran's response to the requirements are essential to investigate Tehran as a medical tourism destination. This is a descriptive survey and also an analytical and exploratory study. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed in this research. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with 20 experts and a Delphi questionnaire. In the first step, a desk study was performed and the conceptual model was developed. External (environmental threats and opportunities) and internal (strengths and weaknesses) factors were analyzed by SWOT matrix. According to the SWOT matrix, medical tourism industry was in WO and SPACE matrix confirmed the result of the IE matrix. Percent using four strategies calculated and strategies ranked quantitatively by QSPM matrix as follows: i) Marketing and Information System Development, ii) Public Infrastructure Development, iii) Product Development, iv) Human Resource Development. Accordingly, policies were developed..