Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Management and Production Operations, Department of Management and Economics, School of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
2 MSc Student, Business Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Department of Management and Economics, School of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Tourism industry, especially health tourism, is one of the prominent growing industries in the world, and many countries have made this industry as their major source of income, employment, so on. This way, countries seek to stabilize the influx of tourists. This study sought to identify barriers to attracting and retaining health tourists in Kashan City, Iran, with a qualitative method and at the supply chain level.Methods: This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 18 experts in the tourism and health tourism industry in Kashan, conducted by judgment and snowball method, and continued until the theoretical saturation of the data. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data.Results: The barriers to attracting and retaining health tourists at the level of health supply chain in Kashan included five major themes of external management weaknesses, cultural issues, weather conditions, internal management weakness, and the intensity of international competition.Conclusion: The barriers to attracting and retaining health tourists at the level of health tourism supply chain in Kashan should be considered by managers, policymakers, and activists in the health tourism industry. Besides, experts and planners in the field of health tourism should not neglect the benefits of using new management approaches, especially supply chain management in this area, and should use it to gain and promote competitive advantages.
Keywords
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