International Journal of Travel Medicine & Global Health Infection Diseases Section Original Article Medical Tourism Attraction of Tehran Hospitals Ali Ayoubian 1 , Sogand Tourani *2 , Zahra HashemiDehaghi 3 Abstract Introduction Since the current economic situation and other problems in life are the main reasons contributing to high stress levels, medical tourism is a choice for those who seek health plans for their life and keep away from stressful everyday conditions[1]. Medical tourism means travel for treatment and recovery [2].Today the market of medical tourism is growing as one of the competitive and profitable industries in the world. At the macro level, governments are interested in benefiting from this industry. Fierce competition between different countries, especially developing countries in Asia has begun attracting medical tourists [3] Other factors such as Globalization and Trade Liberalization in the context of the rapidly growing field of health services have influenced the growth [4]. During the past few years the number of people having used health services outside of their countries has risen [5]. High cost of health services in industrialized countries, increasing ease of international travel, favorable exchange rates in the world economy, rapid advances in medical technology and standards of care in most countries plus extensive Internet access are other factors which lead to the development of health tourism [6]. The existence of new companies not having medical expertise, but playing an intermediatory role between patients and hospital networks throughout the world assists expansion of this new industry [7] Studies show that increasing health care costs in the United States of America and the long lists in England and Canada has led many American and European patients to travel to the developing countries of Southeast Asia for receiving medical services [8,9]. So McKinsey in reports estimates that the revenue from health tourism in the global market reaches nearly 100 billion dollars in 2012(3). Research in Thailand showed that governmental planning and infrastructural Introduction: Today the market of medical tourism is growing as one of the competitive and profitable industries in the world. The aim of this study was to determine medical tourist attraction in Tehran hospitals. Methods: This is a descriptive study which was carried out in 8 hospitals of Tehran in 2012. 195 people from the managing boards of these hospitals participated in the study. A questionnaire was designed to gather data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by professors and administrators and reliability was calculated 80% by Cronbach's alpha. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Findings: The total amount of medical tourist attractions in Tehran hospitals is moderate (51%) and also average number of foreign patients admitted to hospitals and average income for hospitals is also moderate. Conclusion: According to the results it seems media advertising is the most effective in attracting medical tourists. Furthermore, the advertisement of the capabilities of hospitals alongside marketing could help attract more medical tourists. Keywords: Travel, Medical Tourism, Travel Medicine 1. Health Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2. Hospital Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3. Eye Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. * Corresponding Author Sogand Tourani, Hospital Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Email: sogandtourani@yahoo.com Submission: 26 Jan 2013 Accepted: 24 Feb 2013 International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health, Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2013; 95-98 All rights reserved for official publication of Baqiyatallah university of medical sciences©