Medical Tourism Market in Selected Hospitals in Tehran City, Iran: Application of Clustering

Due to the current role of medical tourism as an industry, better understanding of its market can be important. One way to understand the market and its targets is through clustering them, and understanding the characteristics of each cluster. The present study was conducted to determine and analyze the demographic, geographic, and behavioral variables within the clusters of medical tourism market. This was a descriptive-survey conducted using a questionnaire. 151 questionnaires were completed by foreigner patients in selected hospitals in Tehran City, Iran, who were selected using one-stage cluster sampling. The results of the questionnaires were examined using K-means and chi-square correlation coefficient via SPSS software. The findings identified four different clusters of medical tourists, namely first, second, third, and fourth clusters, with significant differences in terms of the studied variables. In other words, the examined demographic variables included gender, age, education and income, the country of origin of tourists was considered as a geographical variable, as well as behavioral variables including the number of trips, the length of stay in Iran, the type of medical service received, the main source of information for travel in Iran, the method of regulating treatment, doing side activity, and the type of side activity. All the variables had significant differences in different clusters. The differences in clusters should be considered by policymakers and activists in this area. It is important to provide a regular and systematic program for recognizing and planning of Iraqi medical tourists. Furthermore, medical tourism managers can provide an increasing number of side plans in cooperation with hospitals and agencies for this potential market.