Preferences of Those Who Utilize Thermal Springs About Spa Tourism

Objective: Health tourism has been in the agenda recently, and our country is considerably rich in respect to thermal tourism. Therefore, the society especially tends to prefer thermal tourism. It is aimed in the study to determine the reasons why people prefer thermal tourism and which diseases they intend to cure of. Methods: The study was carried out in 2012, in two provinces famous for Turkey's thermal tourism. The sample of the study was formed the tourists who resorted these two provinces for thermal tourism in May-July. The volunteers to take part in the study were requested to fill the questionnaires prepared by the researchers by themselves. In the questionnaires there were questions such as the socio-demographic characteristics, reasons for preferring thermal tourism, diseases for which they would benefit from spa treatment, and who they have been informed about the spa before coming to the spa. In the analysis of the data descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used and p values <0.05 were statistical considered significant. Results: The average age of 153 participants was 42.5±13.9, and 44.4 % of them declared that they had chronic diseases. 65.4% of them got information about the spa treatment before they utilized the thermal hotels. 38.6% of those who came to thermal hotels reported that they had utilized the thermal treatment before, and 18.3% of them reported that they had consulted to a medical physician before arriving there. 83.7% of ındividuals participating in the study stated that they had thought to get benefit from the thermal tourism with regard to musculoskeletal diseases. While 69.9% of the spa treatment was used as a sitting bath, 51.6% was using steam bath. 23.5% of the participants think that such treatment has side effects. Before arriving for thermal tourism, there was a statistically significant difference between application status to medical doctor with age, chronic illness.Conclusion: The individuals thought that they principally make use of thermal tourism concerning musculoskeletal system and dermatologic diseases. The level of seeking medical advice before deciding a thermal tourism was low. The way the individuals make choice of spa treatments most was sitting bath and steam bath. It is believed that increasing the level of awareness about the necessity of applying to the doctor before coming to the spa and doing extra field studies and could contribute to the support of the society's health consciousness. Keywords: Health tourism, spa tourism, thermal tourism preferenc