IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i22p4579-d288500.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Process of Constructing a Health Tourism Destination Index

Author

Listed:
  • Chia-Wen Lee

    (College of Humanities and Communications, Yango University, Fuzhou 350015, China)

  • Ching Li

    (Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 106, Taiwan)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify a set of key indicators with weightings for health tourism destinations by using an advanced analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, derived from the official, academic, and professional opinions of the experts. The AHP method allocated weightings to the evaluation criteria selected by the fifteen experts. After expert evaluations were conducted, the three dimensions and eleven sub-dimensions of the initial health tourism destination were obtained as follows: (1) special demands and indications—medical care, health promotion, and tourism and leisure; (2) natural environment—climate, air, water, and light; (3) leisure activities and general demands—sports, therapeutic activities, interactions with animals and plants, and diet. The results revealed that the dimensions of special demands and indications were given the most attention and that the sub-dimensions of sports promotion were the highest ranked by expert groups. The official and academic opinions suggested that health tourism destinations should focus on special demands and indications, while professionals tended to consider the natural environment as a primary concern. In particular, they considered that good air quality can help people release pressure, relax, activate lymphocytes, improve immune function, and enhance disease immunity. The health tourism destination index can contribute to the overall strategic planning process by identifying improvements in activities and enhancing competitiveness in health tourism management by using benchmarking to further improve tourists’ experience and satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-Wen Lee & Ching Li, 2019. "The Process of Constructing a Health Tourism Destination Index," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-11, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:22:p:4579-:d:288500
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4579/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4579/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Žabkar, Vesna & Brenčič, Maja Makovec & Dmitrović, Tanja, 2010. "Modelling perceived quality, visitor satisfaction and behavioural intentions at the destination level," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 537-546.
    2. Shujie Zhang & Zhengzheng Wei & Wenliang Liu & Ling Yao & Wenyu Suo & Jingjing Xing & Bingzhao Huang & Di Jin & Jiansheng Wang, 2015. "Indicators for Environment Health Risk Assessment in the Jiangsu Province of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Andergassen, Rainer & Candela, Guido & Figini, Paolo, 2013. "An economic model for tourism destinations: Product sophistication and price coordination," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 86-98.
    4. Philipp Schlemmer & Cornelia Blank & Martin Schnitzer, 2019. "Does Physical Activity during Alpine Vacations Increase Tourists’ Well-Being?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Zhang, Hong & Gu, Chao-lin & Gu, Lu-wen & Zhang, Yan, 2011. "The evaluation of tourism destination competitiveness by TOPSIS & information entropy – A case in the Yangtze River Delta of China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 443-451.
    6. Fetscherin, Marc & Stephano, Renee-Marie, 2016. "The medical tourism index: Scale development and validation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 539-556.
    7. Katarzyna Kotarska & Leonard Nowak & Mirosława Szark-Eckardt & Maria Nowak, 2019. "Selected Healthy Behaviors and Quality of Life in People Who Practice Combat Sports and Martial Arts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-12, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dimitrios Batakis & Symeon Sidiropoulos & Alkinoos Emmanouil-Kalos & Theodoros Fouskas & Constantin Zopounidis & Athanassios Vozikis, 2023. "Medical Tourism in the Region of Crete, Greece: Perspectives from Healthcare Providers, Hotel Managers, and Medical Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Teen-Hang Meen & Yusuke Matsumoto & Kuei-Shu Hsu, 2020. "Selected Papers from 2019 IEEE Eurasia Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Healthcare and Sustainability (IEEE ECBIOS 2019)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-4, April.
    3. Irene Monsonís-Payá & Tomás Gómez-Navarro & Mónica García-Melón, 2020. "Anticipating Environmental Burdens in Research and Innovation Projects—Application to the Case of Active and Healthy Ageing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Ting Gan & Jiansong Zheng & Wei Li & Jiaxin Li & Junxian Shen, 2023. "Health and Wellness Tourists’ Motivation and Behavior Intention: The Role of Perceived Value," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-16, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luan Chen & Eric Ng & Shyh-Chang Huang & Wei-Ta Fang, 2017. "A Self-Evaluation System of Quality Planning for Tourist Attractions in Taiwan: An Integrated AHP-Delphi Approach from Career Professionals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Rainer Andergassen & Guido Candela & Paolo Figini, 2017. "The management of tourism destinations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 49-65, February.
    3. Mónica de Castro-Pardo & Pascual Fernández Martínez & Amelia Pérez Zabaleta & João C. Azevedo, 2021. "Dealing with Water Conflicts: A Comprehensive Review of MCDM Approaches to Manage Freshwater Ecosystem Services," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-32, April.
    4. Wanke, Peter Fernandes & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel José & Moreira Antunes, Jorge Junio & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Roubaud, David & Sobreiro, Vinicius Amorim & Santibanez Gonzalez‬, Erne, 2021. "An original information entropy-based quantitative evaluation model for low-carbon operations in an emerging market," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    5. Carayannis, Elias G. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F. & Bento, Paulo & Ferreira, João J.M. & Jalali, Marjan S. & Fernandes, Bernardo M.Q., 2018. "Developing a socio-technical evaluation index for tourist destination competitiveness using cognitive mapping and MCDA," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 147-158.
    6. Pérez, Claudia & Claveria, Oscar, 2020. "Natural resources and human development: Evidence from mineral-dependent African countries using exploratory graphical analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Parmita Saha & Atanu Nath, 2017. "A Conceptual Framework of Festival Visitors’ Behavioral Intentions," MIC 2017: Managing the Global Economy; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Monastier di Treviso, Italy, 24–27 May 2017,, University of Primorska Press.
    8. Petr Štumpf & Jitka Mattyašovská & Adriana Krištùfková, 2021. "Restart of Hospitality and Tourism: System Dynamics and Scenario-Based Modelling," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 14(2), pages 125-136.
    9. Chatzigeorgiou, Chryssoula & Christou, Evangelos & Simeli, Ioanna, 2017. "Delegate satisfaction from conference service quality and its impact on future behavioural intentions," MPRA Paper 93933, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Rui Guo & Xiaoying Liu & Hakjun Song, 2021. "Structural Relationships among Strategic Experiential Modules, Motivation, Serious Leisure, Satisfaction and Quality of Life in Bicycle Tourism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-13, December.
    11. Huang, Jen-Hung & Peng, Kua-Hsin, 2012. "Fuzzy Rasch model in TOPSIS: A new approach for generating fuzzy numbers to assess the competitiveness of the tourism industries in Asian countries," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 456-465.
    12. Pei Dang & Zhanwen Niu & Shang Gao & Lei Hou & Guomin Zhang, 2020. "Critical Factors Influencing the Sustainable Construction Capability in Prefabrication of Chinese Construction Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Dias Satria & Joshi Maharani Wibowo, 2021. "Big Data Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Competitiveness in East Java Province," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 14(2), pages 189-203.
    14. Mehran, Javaneh & Olya, Hossein GT., 2020. "Canal boat tourism: Application of complexity theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    15. Janová, Jitka & Hampel, David & Nerudová, Danuše, 2019. "Design and validation of a tax sustainability index," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 916-926.
    16. Yung-Lun Liu & Pen-Fa Ko & Jui-Te Chiang, 2021. "Developing an Evaluation Model for Monitoring Country-Based Tourism Competitiveness," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    17. Yan Wang & Ranran Zhao, 2024. "Coupling coordination development between eco-investment, tourism, and logistics in Anhui Province, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Guido Candela & Massimiliano Castellani & Maurizio Mussoni, 2015. "Keynesian Policies for Tourism: Taxation without Coordination," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(3), pages 527-541, June.
    19. Breitsohl, Jan & Garrod, Brian, 2016. "Assessing tourists' cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions to an unethical destination incident," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 209-220.
    20. Abdul Rehman & Hengyun Ma & Muhammad Irfan & Munir Ahmad & Ousmane Traore, 2020. "Investigating the Influence of International Tourism in Pakistan and Its Linkage to Economic Growth: Evidence From ARDL Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:22:p:4579-:d:288500. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.