Healing Journey, Health Tourist Profiles: The Case of a Public Hospital

The aim of the study is to analyze the data of international patients who received health services from a public hospital in Samsun between 2019 and 2023 and to evaluate the medical tourism potential of Samsun. The descriptive study included 10,526 international patients who applied to a public hospital in Samsun between 2019 and 2023. In the study, the socio-demographic characteristics of the patients, patient categories, the branches they applied to, and the income obtained were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was found to be the lowest X̄=29.28 and the highest X̄=32.30. 50.37% (n=5302) of the patients were within the scope of health tourism and 49.63% (n=5224) were within the scope of tourist health. Patients mostly came from Iraq, Germany, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The average revenue per patient was ₺574.11. As a result of the study, it was determined that most patients came to Samsun from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Germany, where the Turkish diaspora is high. In addition, it was determined that the income obtained from patients is very low compared to the income obtained from medical tourists in Türkiye in general.