Medical Tourism Attraction of Tehran Hospitals

Introduction: Today the market of medical tourism is growing as one of the competitive and profitable industries in the world. The aim of this study was to determine medical tourist attraction in Tehran hospitals. Methods: This is a descriptive study which was carried out in 8 hospitals of Tehran in 2012. 195 people from the managing boards of these hospitals participated in the study. A questionnaire was designed to gather data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by professors and administrators and reliability was calculated 80% by Cronbach's alpha. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Findings: The total amount of medical tourist attractions in Tehran hospitals is moderate (51%) and also average number of foreign patients admitted to hospitals and average income for hospitals is also moderate. Conclusion: According to the results it seems media advertising is the most effective in attracting medical tourists. Furthermore, the advertisement of the capabilities of hospitals alongside marketing could help attract more medical tourists.