The Use of NFT As A Payment Method In Health Tourism

Abstract

Health tourism is a rapidly growing health service model in the world. Today, its use by health service demanders has become widespread. Health tourism sector is a sector that combines health and tourism, where individuals who demand health services can receive treatment services by travelling. In the health sector, where technology is used intensively, innovative approaches are emerging in the provision of health services. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), a new digital asset that has emerged in recent years with the development of blockchain, offers different usage areas in health tourism with its features. NFTs are defined as unique digital assets and are supported by blockchain technology. This new approach offers innovative opportunities for health tourists and health tourism organizations, data security and payment methods. This innovative technology can make the health tourism experience more transparent and secure. This study is expected to contribute to the sector with an innovative alternative payment method of practitioners in health tourism, which is an international service model.

Keywords

• health tourism
• health management
• blockchain
• NFT
• smart contracts

References

1. Arapoğlu, F. (2021). Sanatta aktüel gündem: kripto sanat (NFT). Aurum Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 6(1), 91–93.
2. Asadi, M. M., Basouli, M., Boroumandzad, Y., & Derakhsh, S. (2019). Health tourism development with qualitative cognitive mapping approach. Payesh (Health Monitor), 18(5), 455-464.
3. Barkan, M., & Tapliashvili, N. (2018). Medikal turizmde kripto para birimi kullanımı. Scientific and Practical Cyber Security Journal (SPCSJ), 2(4), 104-110.
4. Buterin, V. (2013). Ethereum whitepaper - a next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform. https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/#a-next-generation-smart-contract-anddecentralized-application-platform (Accessed 12.02.2023).
5. Brock, T. (2022). From the Experts: 8 Pros and Cons of Non-Fungible Tokens and How They Compare to Traditional Investments. Published: January 14, 2022. Access: [https://www.annuity.org/2022/01/14/from-the-experts-8-pros-and-cons-of-nfts/#sources]. 15.07.2023.
6. Carrera, P. M., & Bridges, J. F. P. (2006). We ask you to use the font according to the template used for your papers. Papers using other fonts will be converted by our typesetters. Health Economics, 6, 447-454.
7. Castro, J.G., Tito, E.A.H., Brandão, L.E.D., & Gomes, L.L. (2019). Crypto-assets portfolio optimization under the omega measure. The Engineering Economist, 64(1), 1-21.
8. Chainalysis. (2022). The Chainalysis 2021 NFT Market Report. Retrieved from

9. ConsenSys (2022). What Is #Ethereum ($ETH)? ConsenSys, Available Online: https://consensys.net/knowledge-base/ethereum. (Accessed 13.02. 2023).
10. Conti, R. (2021). What is an NFT? Non-fungible tokens explained. Forbes Advisor. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/nft-non-fungible-token (Accessed: 11.02.2023)
11. Crooks, V. A., Kingsbury, P., Snyder, J., & Johnston, R. (2010). What Is Known about the Patient's
12. Experience of Medical Tourism? A Scoping Review. BMC Health Services Research, 10, 266. Çallı, F. (2021). NFT teknolojisine turizm perspektifi ile bir bakış. Journal of New Tourism Trends (JOINNT), 2(2), 161–172.
13. Çapar, H. (2018). Medikal Turizmde Destinasyon Seçimini Etkileyen Faktörler: Yabancı Medikal Turistlerin Türkiye Algısını Ölçmeye Yönelik Bir Çalışma. İstanbul Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Sağlık Ekonomisi Abd. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. İstanbul.
14. Davidson, S., De Filippi, P., & Potts, J. (2016). Disrupting governance: The new institutional economics of distributed ledger technology.
15. Delaplaine, S. (2021). The Brave New Virtual Art World: The Evolution of Digital Art - NFTs and Their Effects on the Art Market in 2021, Master's thesis, Sotheby's Institute of Art.
16. Demirer, E. (2010). Türkiye'de Medikal Turizm Ve Geliştirilmesi: Örnek Bir Araştırma. Balıkesir Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü. Turizm İşletmeciliği Ve Otelecilik Ana Bilim Dalı. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Balıkesir.
17. Doan, A. P., Johnson, R. J., Rasmussen, M. W., Snyder, C. L., Sterling, J. B., & Yeargin, D. J. (2021). NFTs: Key U.S. legal considerations for an emerging asset class.
18. Doan, A. P., Johnson, R. J., Rasmussen, M. W., Snyder, C. L., Sterling, J. B., & Yeargin, D. J. (2021). NFTs: Key U.S. legal considerations for an emerging asset class.
19. Dursun, N. (2021). NFT/Kripto sanat ve hareketli grafik ilişkisi. Humanities and Administrative Sciences, 7(40), 1037–1055.
20. Entriken, W., Shirley, D., Evans, J., & Sachs, N. (2018). EIP-721: Non-fungible token standard. Ethereum Improvement Proposals, (721).
21. Evans, T. M. (2019). Cryptokitties, cryptography, and copyright. AIPLA Quarterly Journal, 47(2), 155- 178.
22. Garantibbva, (2023), NFT Nedir, Ne İşe Yarar? NFT Nasıl Alınır?, https://www.garantibbva.com.tr/blog/nft-nedir-nft-nasil alinir#:~:text=NFT'ler%20kripto%20para%20birimlerinde,cüzdanı%20aracılığıyla%20NFT'ye% 20erişebilir. (Accessed: 12.02.2023).
23. Garcia-Altes, A. (2005). The development of health tourism services. Annals of tourism research, 32(1), 262-266.
24. García-Altés, A. (2005). The Development of Health Tourism Services. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(1), 262-266.
25. Geroni, D. (2021). Understanding The Attributes Of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). 101 Blockchains, Available Online: https://101blockchains.com/nft-attributes/ [Accessed 10 May 2022].
26. Gotadki R. (2018), Medical Tourism Market by Treatment Type by Regions- Forecast Till 2030, mareketresearchfuture.com, Reports, (Accsessed: 31.03.2023).
27. Güzel Şahin, G., & Tuzlukaya, Ş. (2017). Turizm Türleri ve Turizm Politikaları, Dünyada ve Türkiye’de Sağlık Turizmi. In D. Tengilimoğlu (Ed.), Sağlık Turizmi (pp. 41-58). Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi.
28. İldaş, G. (2022). The Tourism Sector in Country Branding: An Assessment on Health Tourism in Turkey. Kent Akademisi, 15(1), 155-176.
29. Kshetri, N. (2018). Roles of blockchain in meeting supply chain management objectives. International Journal of Information Management, 39, 80-89.
30. Lee, J., & Kim, H. (2015). Success Factors of Health Tourism: Cases of Asian Tourism Cities. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1(3), 216-233.
31. Leech, O. (2021). What Are NFTs and How Do They Work? CoinDesk, Available Online: https://www.coindesk.com/learn/what-are-nfts-and-how-do-they-work/ (Accessed 15.02.2023].
32. Lunt, N., Smith, R. D., Exworthy, M., Green, S. T., Horsfall, D. G., & Mannion, R. (2011). Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A scoping review. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/48723982.pdf
33. Ministry of Development. (2018). Onuncu Kalkınma Planı (2014-2018). Retrieved from http://www.kalkinma.gov.tr/Lists/Kalknma%20planlar/Attachments/12/Onuncu%20kalk%C4% B1nma%20plan%C4%B1.pdf (Accessed March 28, 2023).
34. Mukhopadhyay, U., Skjellum, A., Hambolu, O., Oakley, J., Yu, L., & Brooks, R. (2016). A brief survey of Cryptocurrency systems. In 2016 14th Annual Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust (PST) (pp. 745-752). IEEE.
35. Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Decentralized business review, 21260.
36. OECD. (2011). Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A Scoping Review. Paris: OECD. 1-55.
37. Özirili, Y. (2021). Olmayan müze: kripto sanat. Journal of Tourism Studies, 3(1), 1–14. Parrales, G. I. S., & Batbayar, B. (2022). Exploring the impacts of NFTs in marketing strategies and customer relationships.
38. Pastel (2022). How Are NFTs Authenticated? Pastel Network, Available Online: https://pastel.network/how-are-nfts-authenticated/ (Accessed 12.02. 2023).
39. Pastel. (2022). How Are NFTs Authenticated?, from https://pastel.network/how-are-nfts-authenticated/ (Accessed: 09.02.2023).
40. Pirnay, L., Deventer, C., & de Sousa, V. A. (2023, January). Providing Customer Value through NonFungible Tokens: A Preliminary Study. In Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).
41. Rejeb, A.; Keogh, J.G.; Treiblmaier, H. (2019). The Impact of Blockchain on Medical Tourism. In Proceedings of the WeB 2019 Workshop on e-Business, Munich, Germany.
42. Reyna, A., Martín, C., Chen, J., Soler, E., & Díaz, M. (2018). On blockchain and its integration with IoT: Challenges and opportunities. Future generation computer systems, 88, 173-190.
43. Rıdderstaat, J., & Singh, D. (2020). Increasing Health Tourism Spending in the United States. Rosen Research Review, 2, 38-41.
44. Sag, I., & Zengul, F. D. (2019). Why medical tourists choose Turkey as a medical tourism destination?. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 2(3), 296-306.
45. Statista. (2023). NFT market cap worldwide 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1221742/nftmarket-capitalization-worldwide/ (Accessed: 10.02.2023).
46. Swan, M. (2015). Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
47. Şağban, E. E. (2021). NFT’ler özelinde siber sigortaya bir bakış. Bilişim, Hukuku Dergisi, 3(2).
48. Şengül, C., & Çora, H. (2020). Healthcare tourism in second decade of 21st century-a review of Turkey as the new global center for international patients. Journal of Health Systems and Policies, 2(1), 56-86.
49. Temizkan, R., & Kiziltas, M. C. (2021). Turizm Bağlamında Kültürel ve Doğal Kaynakların Korunmasında Fon Sağlama Aracı. Journal of Tourism and Gastronomy Studies, 9(4), 3079-3091.
50. Temizkan, S. P. (2015). Sağlık Turizmi. Ankara: Detay Yayıncılık.
51. Tontuş, H. Ö. (2015). Tüm Yönleriyle Sağlık Turizmi (1st ed.). Ankara: T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı.
52. Tontuş, H. Ö. (2018). Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic Tourism, 3(1), 67-88.
53. Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). (2022). Harcama Türlerine Göre Turizm Geliri (2012-2022). Retrieved from http://www.tuik.gov.tr (Accessed January 14, 2023).
54. Tütüncü, Ö., Kiremitci, İ., & Çalışkan, U. (2011). Sağlık Turizmi, Güvenlik Ve Kalite. Anatolia: Turizm Araştırmaları Dergisi, 22(1), 91-93.
55. Tyan, I., Guevara-Plaza, A., & Yagüe, M. I. (2021). The benefits of blockchain technology for medical tourism. Sustainability, 13(22), 12448. TechQuintal. (n.d.). Advantages and Disadvantages of NFT. Retrieved from https://www.techquintal.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-nft/ Accessed:15.07.2023
56. Ushas, (2023), Sağlık Turizm Verileri, https://www.ushas.com.tr/saglik-turizmiverileri/#:~:text=2021%20yılında%20670.730%20kişi%20sağlık,bin%20ABD%20doları%20tuta rında%20gerçekleşmiştir. (Accsessed: 14.02.2023)
57. Ustaoğlu, E., Kıran, S., Bağcı, M., & Emre, İ. E. (2022). Nft (Non-Fungıble Token) ve Uygulama Alanları. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 24(4), 1801-1821.
58. Vujičić, D., Jagodić, D., & Ranđić, S. (2018). Blockchain technology, bitcoin, and Ethereum: A brief overview. In 2018 17th international symposium infoteh-jahorina (infoteh) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
59. Wang, Q., Li, R., Wang, Q., & Chen, S. (2021). Non-fungible token (NFT): Overview, evaluation, opportunities, and challenges. arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.07447.
60. White, B., Mahanti, A., & Passi, K. (2022). Characterizing the OpenSea NFT marketplace. In Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference 2022 (pp. 488-496).
61. Wilson, K. B., Karga, M., & Ghaderi, H. (2021). Dijital ekonomide değiştirilemez tokenların araştırılması: Paydaşlar ve ekosistem, risk ve fırsat. Business Horizons.
62. Yeliz, A. Y. I. K., & Deniz, R. B. (2021). Dijital pazarlamada yeni bir yöntem olarak firmaların PR kapsamında NFT (Non-Fungible Token) uygulamaları ile marka imajı güçlendirmeye yönelik faaliyetlerinin irdelenmesi. International Journal of Arts and Social Studies, 5(8), 66-100.
63. Yılmaz, Y. (2018). Blokzincir Teknolojisi ve Kripto Paraların Finansal Piyasalar Üzerine Muhtemel Etkileri. Turkish Business Journal, 2(4), 1-26.
64. Ying, W., Jia, S., & Du, W. (2018). Digital enablement of blockchain: Evidence from HNA group. International Journal of Information Management, 39, 1-4.
65. Zengingönül, O., Emeç, H., İyilikçi, D. E., & Bingöl, P. (2012). Sağlık Turizmi: İstanbul'a Yönelik Bir Değerlendirme. Ekonomistler Platformu. İstanbul.
66. Zhang, R., Xue, R., & Liu, L. (2019). Security and Privacy on Blockchain. ACM Computing Surveys, 52(3), 1-34.
67. Zsarnoczky, M. (2018). Novel Concepts In The Health Tourism Industry. Vadyba Journal of Management, 1(32), 67-73