The Investigation of Health Tourism Potential: The Case of Samsun Province

Year 2024, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 180 - 193, 29.07.2024

Muhammet Ali Oruç , Şennur Caner , Kemal Vatansever

https://doi.org/10.31201/ijhmt.1475177

Abstract

Aim: To determine the current situation by evaluating the health services offered to health tourists in Samsun province and to reveal the health tourism potential with health tourism data.
Methods: The population of this descriptive cross-sectional study consists of health tourists who received health services in Samsun province between 2017-2021. Data were obtained through the foreign patient tracking system and e-nabız.
Results: The number of health tourists has increased with increasing momentum over the years. According to the type of arrival of health tourists, health services were provided mostly within the scope of health tourism. The clinics to which health tourists mostly applied are emergency medicine, gynaecology and ophthalmology clinics. The highest number of health tourist applications were in July, August and September.
Conclusion: It was determined that Samsun province has a health tourism potential. This potential should be developed by integrating medical tourism with other types of health tourism and by carrying out joint activities with the co-operation of all stakeholders.

Keywords

health, health tourism, health tourists, medical tourism

References

• Ataberk, E. ve Baykal, F. (2011). Utilization of Natural and Cultural Resources of Dikili (Izmir) for Tourism. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 19, 173–180. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.05.121
• Bookman, M. Z. ve Bookman, K. R. (2007). Medical tourism in developing countries. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230605657
• Bozça, R., Kıraç, F. Ç. and Kıraç, R. (2017). Health Tourism SWOT Analysis: Erzincan. Gümüşhane University Journal of Health Sciences, 6(3), 157-163. doi:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/385777
• Büyüközkan, G., Mukul, E. ve Kongar, E. (2021). Health Tourism Strategy Selection via SWOT Analysis and Integrated Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic AHP-MABAC Approach. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 74, 100929. doi:10.1016/j.seps.2020.100929
• Carmen, I. ve Iuliana, C. (2014). Medical Tourism Industry Challenges in the Context of Globalization. Management Strategies Journal, 7(2), 62–70.
• Cohen, E. (2008). Medical Tourism in Thailand. AU-GSB e-Journal, 1(1), 24–37.
• Connell, J. (2006). Medical tourism : Sea , sun , sand and y surgery. Tourism Management, 27, 1093–1100. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2005.11.005
• Çetinkaya, T. (2010). A Research on Determining the Opinions of Health Workers on the Marketability of Bursa Province in terms of Health Tourism. Sakarya University.
• Dalkıran, G. B. (2017). Trakya Region as a Health Tourism Destination. Social'Sciences'Research Journal, 6(4), 162-178. Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/ssrj/issue/32264/357686.
• Demir, Y. and Saglik, E. (2020). Evaluation of the Institutional Competence and Potential of Medical Tourism with Physician Opinions: Samsun Province Case. Journal of Tourism Studies, 2(1), 1-20.
• Demir, Y., Oruç, P., Baştürk, Y. A. and Övey, İ. S. (2020). Reasons for Preference of Medical Tourists: The Case of Samsun Province. Journal of Tourism Economics and Business Research, 2(1), 18-30.
• Dinçer, Z. M., Aydoğan Çiftçi, M. and Karayılan, E. (2016). Medical Tourism in Developing Countries: Evaluation of Turkey's Potential According to Thailand, Malaysia and India. Istanbul University Journal of Social Sciences, 1, 34-60.
• Dökme, S. (2016). Investigation of Adana Province in terms of Health Tourism and Health Workers' Perspective on Medical Tourism Activities: A Hospital Example. Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University.
• Eriş, H. (2019). Şanlıurfa Health Tourism SWOT Analysis. Electronic Journal of Social Sciences, 18(71), 1278-1298. doi:10.17755/esosder.511959
• Glinos, A.I., Baeten, R., Helble, M. ve Maarse, H. (2010). A typology of cross-border patient mobility. Health & Place, 16(6), 1145–1155. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.08.001
• Gökdayı, İ. and Polat, M. (2015). A Study on the Feasibility of Medical Tourism in Isparta. KMÜ Journal of Social and Economic Research, 17(29), 9-16.
• Gül, S. (2019). A Qualıtatıve Research on Medıcal Tourısm of Samsun (Turkey). lnternational Journal of Geography and Geography Education, (40), 283–294. doi:10.32003/iggei.570459
• Köstepen, A. (2015). Determination of Medical Tourism Potential of Izmir Province. Izmir Kâtip Çelebi University.
• Lee, C. and Spisto, M. (2007). Medical Tourism, The Future of Health Services. Alternatives. Retrieved on 21 March 2021 from http://www.bm.nsysu.edu.tw/tutorial/iylu/12th ICIT/07-07.pdf.
• Ministry of Health, S. T. D. B. (2021). Web Seminar: Health Tourism: What It Brings, What It Takes. Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPplYevYdFY on 20 January 2021.
• Official Gazette, 30123. (2017). Regulation on International Health Tourism and Health of Tourists. Accessed from https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=23751&MevzuatTur=7&MevzuatTertip=5 on 10 May 2023.Sağlık Bakanlığı. (2015). Tüm Yönleriyle Sağlık Turizmi. (S. Şeker, Ed.). Ankara: Anıl Matbaa Ltd. Şti.
• Onur İçöz (2009). Medical Tourism in the Scope of Health Tourism and Turkey's Opportunities. Jornal of Yaşar University, 4(14), 2257-2279. Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/179233.
• Republic of Turkey Ministry of Trade. (2023). Accessed from https://ticaret.gov.tr/ on 1 May 2023.
• Samsun Provincial Health Directorate. (2023). Accessed from https://samsunism.saglik.gov.tr/ on 10 May 2023.
• Şahin, M. and Uysal Şahin, Ö. (2018). Potential and Future of Health Tourism in Turkey: SWOT Analysis. Journal of Awareness, 3, 287-300. doi:10.26809/joa.2018548638
• T.C. Ministry of Culture and Tourism. (2023). Samsun Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. Accessed from https://samsun.ktb.gov.tr/ on 10 May 2023.
• T.C. Ministry of Health. (2023). Accessed from www.saglik.gov.tr on 25 January 2023.
• Tengilimoğlu, D. (2020). Health Tourism (3rd ed.). Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi.
• TÜİK. (2023). Accessed from https://www.tuik.gov.tr/ on 10 May 2023.USHAŞ. (2023). Accessed from https://www.ushas.com.tr/saglik-turizmi-verileri/ on 5 May 2023.
• WHO. (2023). Accessed from https://www.who.int/ on 10 May 2023.
• Yılmaz, G., Turan Kurtaran, A. and Yücesan, B. (2019). Investigation of Health Tourism Potential: Trabzon Province. International Journal of Economic and Administrative Studies, 22, 267-284. doi:10.18092/ulikidince.487467
• Yorulmaz, M. and Söyler, S. (2020). Health Tourism SWOT Analysis: Adana Province Example. International Journal of Health Management and Strategies Research, 6(2), 217-230. Retrieved from http://dergipark.gov.tr/usaysad.
• Yu, J. Y. ve Ko, T. G. (2012). A cross-cultural study of perceptions of medical tourism among Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists in Korea. Tourism Management, 33(1), 80–88. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2