The Status of Medical Tourism Marketing in Private and Public Hospitals Affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Background and Aim: Nowadays, medical tourism market is considered as one of the most profitable and competitive industries in the world and is one of the new areas of advanced tourism. The aim of this study was to investigate the marketing status of medical tourism in private and public hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2018. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study that investigated the marketing status of medical tourism in 6 private and 14 public hospitals affiliated to TUMS in 2018. A valid checklist was used for data collection; besides, SPSS software, descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were applied for data analysis. Results: Product factor has a satisfactory status in state-owned hospitals and an average status in private hospitals. Place factor, people factor, process factor, and physician factor are satisfactory in public and private hospitals. Promotion factor in public hospitals is unacceptable and in private hospitals is average. Besides, price and place factors in public and private hospitals are average. Moreover, there is no significant relationship between any of the above factors and the type of hospitals (public, private). Conclusion: Due to marketing mix, hospitals and medical institutions can increase the confidence of tourists by adopting international standards in addition to enhancing international reputation. Also, paying more attention to media advertising and providing more facilities can improve the condition of hospitals, thereby attracting more medical tourists and expanding the industry in Tehran.