THE IMPACT OF THE DESTINATION IMAGE AND THE INFORMATION SOURCES ON THE PERCEPTION OF THE MEDICAL IMAGE OF THE COUNTRY AND THE INTENTION TO VISIT IT FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES

Purpose-This paper intends to analyze the impact of the destination image and the information sources which are: 1 / word of mouth (Wom), 2 / electronic word of mouth (eWom) and 3 / com-mercial sources, on the medical image of a destination and the intention to visit it for medical purposes. Methodology/Design/Approach-An exploratory study was carried out with 247 people of diffe-rent nationalities who have undergone surgery abroad or who are planning to do so. Three versions of the surveys were administered on Google Forms. The data were analyzed by the method of structural equations. Findings-The main results are: 1 / The image of the destination significantly influences the med-ical image and the intention to travel. 2 / The information sources that most help in choosing a medical destination are consecutively: 1/the eWom, 2/ the Wom, and 3/ the commercial sources. Whereas, the sources that have the most impact on intention to travel are 1/Wom and 2/eWom. Originality of the research- This research highlights the importance of reflecting a positive image of the whole country (safety, attractiveness, hospitality of the people, etc.) and not just promoting its medical image. The second contribution of this study is to show the importance of eWom, Wom and commercial sources in the country choice process.