Evaluating Competitiveness of Heath Tourism Destinations based on “Core Resources and Attractions” Factor (Case Study: Spas of Ramsar)

Abstract

Worldwide studies show that health is a vital stimulus that encourages older people to participate in tourism (Horneman et al., 2002), and the type of tourism that is encouraged and promoted by health is health tourism. Therefore, the services needed for health tourism are important. Today, health tourism is spreading in a variety of sites, including hot springs, mineral water springs, seas and areas with suitable climate (Pollock et al., 2000), and many countries are competing in this regard. Health tourism is a comprehensive journey focused on developing, maintaining and improving the body, mind and soul (Smith&Kelly, 2006). This type of trip is usually attractive for people over 50 who are economically rich and looking at health tourism as a lifestyle and also have experienced work stress (Smith & Puczko, 2009). Therefore, these activities are intended for the comfort of "people over the age of 50", "older people" and "elderly tourists". (Chen et al., 2013). Therefore, considering the significant global growth of tourism in the hot springs and the natural resources inside the country, it is necessary to make further efforts to achieve a suitable regional and global position in various health tourism branches such as hydrotherapy. Iran has over 1000 mineral springs and Mazandaran province with 40 hot and mineral springs has most resources after West Azerbaijan province. One of the influential and active hubs of the province in this regard is Ramsar.

Keywords

• health tourism
• spa tourism
• core resources and attractions of destination
• ramsar