تبيين عوامل مؤثر بر برند گردشگري پزشكي ايران با تأكيد بر بازار عراق (مطالعه موردي: شهر مشهد)

Abstract Developing a medical tourism destination bran‎d as a strategic tool for the success of this industry can be effective in increasing the competitive advantage of the destination, attracting more tourists an‎d income, an‎d as a result, boosting the national economy. However, the study on the bran‎ding of medical tourism destinations is at the beginning of its journey. The factors that are effective in developing the bran‎d of tourism destinations must be identified in advance an‎d made available to planners in this field. Therefore, this research aims to identify an‎d eva‎luate the effective components in developing the bran‎d of medical tourism destinations in the city of Mashhad, with an emphasis on the Iraqi market. This research is applied in terms of its purpose an‎d descriptive-analytical in terms of the method. First, the primary indicators were extracted by studying the background. Then, by surveying experts an‎d using the fuzzy Delphi method in two stages, the indicators in the study area were localized an‎d a research questionnaire was prepared. Finally, by estimating the importance-performance index, the existing situation an‎d its comparison with the optimal situation of Mashhad city in terms of indicators affecting the medical tourism bran‎d were examined. The conceptual model of the research was tested through the structural equation method using AMOS software. Research data was collected in 1402 through 20 expert questionnaires an‎d 384 questionnaires from Iraqi medical tourists who had visited Mashhad. Based on the studies an‎d expertsʹ opinions, by conducting two rounds of fuzzy Delphi, 47 items directly affect the medical tourism bran‎d, which were included in 5 main factors including awareness, quality, perceived value, destination image an‎d loyalty. The situation of Mashhad in all 5 factors is above average an‎d acceptable, but it is far from ideal. Based on the opinions of experts, the importance of the indicators an‎d based on the opinions of tourists, the performance of Mashhad was determined, an‎d finally, the indicators that had the most importance an‎d the weakest performance were prioritized in planning. These indicators included, respectively, the medical touristʹs knowledge of the destination hospital, information about the specialties of the medical staff, appropriate advertising, the presence of a translator, the variety of treatments provided, follow-up care after treatment, the level of trust in the medical tourism destination, an‎d the reputation of specialist doctors. The research findings showed that awareness, perceived value, an‎d perceived quality through the destination bran‎d image affect loyalty an‎d, in this way, lead to the creation an‎d improvement of the destination medical tourism bran‎d. The highest total effect in the model was related to the bran‎d image component an‎d then perceived value, which indicates the appropriate performance of the indicators of these two components in the city of Mashhad. The least impact of the components in the research model is related to the awareness component. Therefore, in order to strengthen the mentioned component, the improvement of its related indicators should be prioritized in planning. The effect of perceived quality on the destination image is moderate, which should be improved in Mashhad.

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