Determining destination competitiveness in medical tourism: A study based on AHP-QFD framework

Year 2023, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 141 - 157, 15.12.2023

Vildan Yilmaz , Ebru Güneren

https://doi.org/10.31822/jomat.2023-8-2-141

Cited By: 2

Abstract

This study investigates the competitiveness of Alanya, a medical tourism destination in Türkiye, and determines appropriate strategies using the analytical hierarchy process and quality function deployment. Data were collected from medical tourism experts to gain managerial insights into the factors affecting the competitiveness of medical tourism. The findings show that medical tourists primarily focus on medical factors such as competence of doctor and quality of treatment. The main strategies to strengthen competitiveness are to create a healthcare-free zone, to increase the number of accredited health care providers, and to encourage the involvement of doctors in academic research and ongoing training. For researchers interested in assessing competitiveness in medical tourism destinations, the study presents general determinants that should be considered in each destination. In addition, the findings show that each medical tourism destination should focus on its own determinants of medical tourism competitiveness when developing its marketing strategies. Finally, it shows that the analytical hierarchy process and quality function deployment approaches can be successfully applied in achieving destination competitiveness and strategic planning, with content validity and importance performance analysis.

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Keywords

Destination competitiveness, Medical tourism (MT), Analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Quality function deployment (QFD), House of quality (HOQ), Alanya

Thanks

This research paper was produced from the PhD thesis (Id: 687300) at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Tourism Management, prepared by Vildan YILMAZ in July, 2021.

确定医疗旅游的目的地竞争力： 基于AHP-QFD框架的研究

Abstract

本研究调查了阿兰雅这个土耳其医疗旅游目的地的竞争力，并利用分析层次过程和质量功能部署确定了适当的战略。从医疗旅游专家那里收集数据，以获得对影响医疗旅游竞争力的因素的管理洞察力。调查结果显示，医疗旅游者主要关注医疗因素，如医生的能力和治疗质量。加强竞争力的主要策略是建立无医疗区，增加经认证的医疗机构的数量，并鼓励医生参与学术研究和持续培训。对于有兴趣评估医疗旅游目的地竞争力的研究人员，该研究提出了每个目的地应考虑的一般决定因素。此外，研究结果表明，每个医疗旅游目的地在制定其营销战略时都应关注其自身的医疗旅游竞争力的决定因素。最后，它表明分析层次过程和质量功能部署方法可以成功地应用于实现目的地竞争力和战略规划，并具有内容有效性和重要性绩效分析。

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