Strategies for development of Iran health tourism

Abstract

Tourism industry of any country consists of different forms of tourism for which matching and adaptation of strategies with the nature of destination is necessary, because provided policies and strategies for development of each form of tourism in any country are different and sometimes even opposite. Health tourism as one the most important forms of tourism is not an exception and preparing strategies for its development will not be possible without considering its specific and extraordinary environment. The object of preparing and writing this article is to formulate suitable strategies for Iran health tourism in a three phase framework consisting of input, matching and decision levels. Provided instruments and techniques in this framework are suitable for different levels of strategic planning (e.g. local, urban, regional, and so on). Also this research is applied in target and the subjects are technical managers of tourism agencies in the country and data is gathered by designing and distribution of questionnaire. Provided instruments and techniques in this framework are suitable for different levels of strategic planning (e.g. local, urban, regional, and so on). Also this research is applied in target and the subjects are all technical managers of tourism agencies in the country and data is gathered by designing and distribution of questionnaire. Surveys show that health tourism is one of the important forms of tourism in Iran and can attract a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. Results indicate that aggressive strategies are in the first priority; in addition, considering lots of strengths of the industry penetration in market, and development of products is also suggested among other aggressive strategies. Determining and prioritization of Iran health tourism strategies are some practical results of this article.