An evaluation of Turkey's health tourism policies using a social network analysis approach

Despite the health tourism sector's rapid growth in the past decade due to globalisation, there is little research analysing countries' health tourism policies. This study aimed to examine the relationships between stakeholders in the health tourism sector in Turkey in the context of Turkey's health tourism policies. This study connects theory and practice in multidisciplinary sectors, including health, tourism, and business, through an evaluation of major issues from a health management perspective. Social network analysis was used to assess the role of 107 stakeholders in Ankara and determine the extent of weak and strong ties among them. Issues confronting these stakeholders and the obstacles they faced in practice were also identified. The study found that, the relevant stakeholders faced comprehensive sectoral deficiencies and issues in building positive relationships. Governmental stakeholders as policymakers need to develop effective strategies to improve stakeholder collaboration and encourage greater inclusiveness through better-targeted health tourism policies. The study contributes to social network theory, resource dependency theory, and stakeholder theory, and is, to our knowledge, the first study to use social network analysis to examine the role of stakeholders in the health tourism sector.