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Health, Wellness and Tourism: healthy tourists, healthy business ...

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sign for the development of further products in rehabilitation clinics, as lasting medical effects<br />

are understood to be reached through a longer duration of treatment.<br />

The comparison between the telephone <strong>and</strong> the guest survey revealed similar results<br />

concerning the acceptance of partial or full private payment. Guests are only willing to invest<br />

private money for traditional offers such as classical massage <strong>and</strong> aqua sports / swimming.<br />

Medical attendance was another offer, both mentioned <strong>and</strong> also often used in the destination.<br />

Surprisingly for health tourism with a medical impact is the fact, that treatments with local<br />

remedies as well as programmes for a <strong>healthy</strong> diet seem to be little attractive.<br />

The study revealed that modern health tourism, especially the market segment of medical<br />

wellness, offers far less opportunities for the destinations than widely assumed.<br />

Although there is a large interest in health tourism among Germans, with the findings of the<br />

study certain target groups were identified: the married group of middle aged women<br />

interested in health vacations, younger, unmarried men interested in health holidays <strong>and</strong> the<br />

people age 65 <strong>and</strong> above. Each of the group has certain preferences concerning the price of<br />

the vacation, the optimal form of accommodation, <strong>and</strong> other specific preferences such as<br />

leisure time activities for the group of younger men. The destinations have to decide for<br />

certain target groups in order to optimize their product.<br />

References<br />

Brittner, A.; Stehle, T. (2000). Kurverkehr. Trierer <strong>Tourism</strong>us Bibliographien (9). Trier.<br />

Deutscher Bäderverb<strong>and</strong> (1998). Jahresbericht. Guetersloh, Floettmann Verlag.<br />

Deutscher Heilbäderverb<strong>and</strong> (2009). Jahresbericht. Guetersloh, Floettmann Verlag.<br />

Rulle, M., Hoffmann, W. & Kraft, K. (2010). Erfolgsstrategien im Gesundheitstourismus.<br />

Analyse zur Erwartung und Zufriedenheit von Gästen. Berlin, Erich Schmidt Verlag.<br />

The author would like to express her thanks to the supporting Ministry of Economics,<br />

Labour <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tourism</strong>, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, which financed the study<br />

with resources from the European Regional Development Fund.

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