Segmentation of Medical Tourism Business in Iran: From Foreign Patients Point of View

Introduction Globalization for developing countries economic is a major change (Yung-sheng,2013:152). And medical tourism is one of the most phenomena that is considered in this change. Medical tourism as a new form of market in the tourism industry, has grown in recent years increasingly (Jutamas & Ilian,2011:95). Turned into an industry, Medical Tourism has become an invaluable source of venue for capable countries welcoming patients (Woodward,2002:7). Medical Tourism, as a type of Health Tourism, is done through performing several surgeries under the supervision of surgeons in hospitals and clinics. In this type of tourism, the patient may require to use tourist sites and facilities, which could be done by travelling to locations having their needs (Bookman,2007:1). Evaluation and prioritizing the Medical Tourism’s trades and attracting more this type of tourists in Iran, are the main goals of this study. The following article is a practical study.
Material and methods Primarily the researches done on this issue are studied. Then by interviewing the experts, studying the related documentations and researches, the touristic trades and their characteristics have been determined. Prior to distribution of the questionnaire to patients, the survey’s validity was done according to the experts, and for reliability of the survey Cronbach’s alpha, and finally, applying genetic algorithm the fuzzy clustering analysis was made. The source of this survey was 101 foreign patients, going into four hospitals in Tehran. The research results argue that, some foreign patients because of close membership level are in different cluster at the same time. Secondly, in terms of medical tourism’s business and its characteristics, the second and third clusters are in average but the first goes into low ranking. Finally, regardless of main aim of medical tourism, other aspects of tourism as food and beverages services, recreational centers, … are needed to be in the spotlight.
Discussion and Results Medical Tourism is a new sort of tourism that has been developed recently. This industry is an economic activity based on commercialized services and entails the splicing of two sectors, medicine and tourism. Both are service industries that face a high income elasticity of demand. This kind of tourism is one of the top competitive fields in developing countries. Therefore, most of the Asian developing countries in their competitive atmosphere are trying to develop their markets and attract more medical tourists. One of the best solutions to Iranians Medical Tourism’s problems, is to aggregate all related trades in the format of a cluster. By aggregating these trades, sharing experiences and facilities, and providing common benefits and facilities may become possible. In the following article, the characteristics of medical tourism’s business have been studied from a foreign patient’s point of view, going into four hospitals in Tehran. In order to study the clustering, 101 patients (foreign tourists) have been questioned and were wanted to rate their opinion among 5 alternatives from 1 to 5. At last, the results were clustered via “GA-fuzzy Clustering”. The findings indicate that: First, some of these patients because of close membership level are in different cluster at the same time. Secondly – regarding the cores of these clusters – in terms of Medical Tourism’s trade and its characteristics, the second and the third clusters are in the average, but the first cluster goes into the low ranking. Also the ones (foreign patients) located in the first cluster (20.79% of the sample) have got the most significance for medical and treatment centers. The ones located in the second cluster (54.45%), have the most significance (as per priority) for medical and treatment centers, public centers, food and beverages centers, private recreation centers and the public recreation and residential centers. Finally, the ones located in the third cluster (28.71%) have the most significance for medical and treatment centers, public centers, residential and recreational centers, private centers, food and beverages centers and sights.
Conclusions The findings of this study show, some foreign patients because of close membership level are in different cluster at the same time. Secondly, in terms of medical tourism’s business and its characteristics, the second and third clusters are in average but the first goes into low ranking. Finally, regardless of main aim of medical tourism, other aspects of tourism as food and beverages services, recreational centers, … are needed to be in the spotlight as these services in top levels make the tourists stay longer and enjoy the recreational services of country and absorbing more tourists and subsequently, foreign currencies, in Iran.