Value-Based Market Segmentation of West Asian Medical Tourism Market: A Case of Iran.

IF 1.3 4区医学 Q4 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Iranian Journal of Public Health Pub Date : 2024-04-01 DOI:10.18502/ijph.v53i4.15570

Leila Torkzadeh, Habib Jalilian, Hojjat Rahmani, Milad Bakhshi, Saeed Hashemzadeh, Mohammad Faryabi, Rahim Khodayari-Zarnaq

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Abstract

Background: Identifying different groups of customers and their preferences and needs enable countries to gain a competitive advantage in the medical tourism market. We aimed to segment medical tourists from West Asian countries seeking medical services in Iran.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 596 medical tourists who sought medical services in Iran in 2021. Data were collected using a valid questionnaire. Segmentation was performed based on medical tourism attributes (medical, destination, and tourism attributes), using cluster analysis methods; wards, and K means. The segments ' evaluation and profiling were conducted using discriminant analysis, chi-square, and oneway ANOVA tests.

Results: Our study divided the market into five segments: health seekers (3.8%), health and destination seekers (8.9%), tourism seekers (17.8%), infrastructure seekers (10.23%), and perfectionism (59.45%). In all segments, the health attributes were of high importance. The perfectionism segment registered the highest score in all three attributes (more than 5 of 6).

Conclusion: Improving health attributes and offering luxurious medical services can be the main strategy for Iran to attract the most medical tourists and achieve a good position in this marketplace. The implication of this study is policymaking for targeting the most profitable segment of this marketplace.

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基于价值的西亚医疗旅游市场细分：伊朗案例。

背景：识别不同的客户群体及其偏好和需求可帮助各国在医疗旅游市场上获得竞争优势。我们的目标是对在伊朗寻求医疗服务的西亚国家医疗游客进行细分：这项横断面研究的对象是 2021 年在伊朗寻求医疗服务的 596 名医疗游客。采用有效问卷收集数据。根据医疗旅游属性（医疗、目的地和旅游属性），使用聚类分析方法、病房和 K 手段进行了细分。利用判别分析、卡方检验和单向方差分析对细分市场进行了评估和分析：我们的研究将市场划分为五个细分市场：健康追求者（3.8%）、健康和目的地追求者（8.9%）、旅游追求者（17.8%）、基础设施追求者（10.23%）和完美主义（59.45%）。在所有细分市场中，健康属性都非常重要。完美主义群体在所有三项属性中得分最高（6 项中超过 5 项）：结论：改善健康属性和提供豪华医疗服务是伊朗吸引最多医疗游客并在市场中占据有利地位的主要战略。本研究的意义在于制定针对这一市场中最有利可图部分的政策。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Iranian Journal of Public Health PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

2.20

自引率

7.10%

发文量

300

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Iranian Journal of Public Health has been continuously published since 1971, as the only Journal in all health domains, with wide distribution (including WHO in Geneva and Cairo) in two languages (English and Persian). From 2001 issue, the Journal is published only in English language. During the last 41 years more than 2000 scientific research papers, results of health activities, surveys and services, have been published in this Journal. To meet the increasing demand of respected researchers, as of January 2012, the Journal is published monthly. I wish this will assist to promote the level of global knowledge. The main topics that the Journal would welcome are: Bioethics, Disaster and Health, Entomology, Epidemiology, Health and Environment, Health Economics, Health Services, Immunology, Medical Genetics, Mental Health, Microbiology, Nutrition and Food Safety, Occupational Health, Oral Health. We would be very delighted to receive your Original papers, Review Articles, Short communications, Case reports and Scientific Letters to the Editor on the above mentioned research areas.