Health tourism has become not only an economic opportunity for countries but also a strategic area in terms of international prestige and service export. Türkiye, has the potential to become a global player in this field due to its advanced health infrastructure, cost-effective services and geographical advantages. However, in order to fully realize this potential, it is necessary to strengthen the promotional activities in the sector, combat illegal and unregulated practices, expand international accreditations and eliminate the lack of qualified human resources. In addition, the quality and reliability of the diagnosis, treatment and post-rehabilitation services offered to health tourists play a decisive role in the choice of destination. In this context, regulations such as complication insurance stand out as important steps to increase trust in the sector. Türkiye’s sustainable and competitive position in health tourism will be possible with comprehensive public policies, transparent pricing, coordinated organizational structures and digitally focused promotional strategies. In this study, Türkiye’s current situation in health tourism, strategic approaches, structural challenges and future opportunities are examined from a multidimensional perspective. As a result of the current situation analysis, strategic suggestions for the future of health tourism have been developed.
Keywords: Health Tourism, Medical Tourism, Health Tourist, Strategy, Sustainability
JEL Codes: L83, I11
How to Cite: Seyran, F. (2025). Health Tourism in Türkiye: Strategies, Practices, and Future Perspectives. Health Tourism Journal, 1(2), 30-48. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18098473
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed pricing mechanisms across the tourism and medical tourism sectors, enabling unprecedented levels of price transparency, cost forecasting, and information accessibility. This review synthesizes the existing literature on AI-based price transparency systems and examines their impact on tourist confidence and destination choice. Findings indicate that AI-driven pricing tools—such as machine learning–supported cost estimators, automated price comparison engines, and real-time dynamic pricing platforms—significantly reduce perceived financial risk by clarifying expected costs and minimizing unexpected expenses. Increased transparency enhances trust in both service providers and destinations, thereby fostering greater consumer confidence and influencing destination selection. Furthermore, AI-enabled systems support equitable competition among destinations by standardizing pricing information, while also shaping tourists’ cognitive evaluations through eWOM analytics, sentiment analysis, and predictive modelling. However, challenges remain regarding algorithmic bias, data privacy, over-standardization of prices, and potential consumer reliance on automated systems. Overall, the review demonstrates that AI-based price transparency is a critical determinant of modern tourist behavior, strengthening trust, improving decision-making, and reshaping destination competitiveness. Future research should investigate cross-cultural differences in trust formation, the long-term behavioral impacts of AI-mediated pricing, and the ethical implications of algorithmic transparency in tourism markets. This review study explores how AI-based price transparency practices in the tourism sector influence tourist trust and, in turn, destination choice. It focuses on the effects of transparent pricing, dynamic pricing, and personalized AI-driven systems on tourists’ perceptions of fairness and trust, synthesizing existing research to clarify the relationship between price transparency, trust, and destination selection.
How to Cite: Karatağ, A. (2025). The Impact Of AI-Based Price Transparency Systems on Tourist Confidence and Destination Choice. Health Tourism Journal, 1(2), 1-28. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18098944
Objective: Third age tourism, a subset of health tourism, is gaining importance with the rise of the elderly population, which poses challenges in healthcare provision. Countries offering affordable treatment and care have facilitated the growth of this tourism segment. This study aims to provide a scientific basis for future research by examining academic publications related to health services and elderly tourist satisfaction within third age tourism using bibliometric analysis. Materials and Methods: A search was conducted in the WOS database using keywords including “older tourists,” “health services,” “expectations,” “satisfaction,” “health tourism,” and “medical tourism” for publications up to March 15, 2025. A total of 125 interdisciplinary studies were identified and analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.18 and Microsoft Excel. Analyses included publication year trends, citation counts, countries of origin, institutions involved, and major funding organizations. Findings: The first relevant study was published in 2010. A decline in publication numbers occurred after 2014, 2018, and 2022, with fluctuating annual output since 2013. “Medical tourism” was the most frequent keyword (f=156), and Malaysia led in publication count (n=15). The most cited article was by Han and Hyun (2015), with 362 citations. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) was the top funding body, while University Sains Malaysia was the most active and well-funded institution. Conclusion: Third age tourism is increasingly significant due to the aging population’s healthcare needs. The growing academic interest reflects this trend. The findings offer valuable insights for researchers aiming to explore elderly satisfaction and healthcare services in this context.
Keywords: Health tourism, Third age tourism, Health service satisfaction, Bibliometric analysis
JEL Codes: I11, L83, C80
How to Cite: DAĞ, E. (2025). Health services in the context of Third Age Tourism: Expectations and Service Satisfaction of Older Tourists. Health Tourism Journal, 1(1), 42-53. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15699917
This study investigates the institutional structure and strategic positioning of the Pamukkale University Thermal Rehabilitation Center (PAÜTERM) as a model of integrative health tourism. PAÜTERM brings together modern robotic rehabilitation, certified Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM), and geothermal therapies within a university-affiliated, Ministry-certified framework. The article conducts a SWOT and TOWS analysis to evaluate PAÜTERM’s strengths—academic legitimacy, integrative clinical services, and thermal resources—as well as weaknesses such as limited international reach and infrastructural constraints. Opportunities include rising global interest in integrative care and Turkey’s health diplomacy, while threats stem from ecological risks and global competition. The discussion outlines strategic actions across four dimensions, such as developing training programs, expanding bilingual infrastructure, forming global partnerships, and institutionalizing environmental monitoring. It concludes that PAÜTERM, through agile governance and sustainability-driven innovation, can evolve into a globally competitive center for integrative medical tourism. The findings provide insights for policymakers, academics, and health administrators aiming to align traditional healing systems with contemporary healthcare strategies.
How to Cite: Balikci, M. Z. (2025). Bridging Tradition and Innovation: A Strategic Evaluation of Paüterm’s Role in Integrative Health Tourism in Türkiye. Health Tourism Journal, 1(1), 1-18. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15699965
This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of health tourism policies for the last twenty years. The objective of the study is to reveal prominent topics, recent research trends, influential authors and popular documents. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines were followed to carry out the study. A Boolean search of the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection was utilized to identify published documents upon health tourism policy. A total of 144 published documents published in WOS between 2006 and 2024 were analyzed via VOSVIEWER. The study uncovers a multidisciplinary field with five main clusters such as health tourism, research and development, medical destination brand, medical facility and quality. Furthermore, the study points out that there is a change in research trends upon health tourism policy. While current studies in the scope address health management and medical tourist as recent topics, relatively recent studies seem to display focus on medical destination brand, equity, satisfaction, research and development, medical facility and policy. Moreover, health tourism is realized to hold powerful interconnections with some of those author keywords such as medical destination brand and policy. Presenting a meticulous review of the literature, this study contributes insights to literature a lot. Furthermore, it functions as a guide for researchers, scientists and policy makers to set up or improve theories, policies and studies.
Keywords: Health tourism policy, bibliometric analysis, co-occurence of words, voswiewer
JEL Codes: I18, L83, O38
How to Cite: Terzier, C. (2025). Mapping Research on Health Tourism Policies: A bibliometric Analysis via VOSVIEWER. Health Tourism Journal, 1(1), 77-97. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15700020
