Types of health tourism
There are different types of health tourism markets based on the activities they perform, but there are also some general patterns. (Smith 91:2010).

Inscape considers health tourism to have various forms depending on the natural environment.
Kaufman and Muller show health tourism and its types in the picture below. According to this chart, health tourism is a special type of tourism, like other types of tourism, and health tourists are divided into two groups: healthy and sick people.

 Derived from the classification of Kaufman and Muller (therapeutic tourism related to sick people and preventive tourism related to healthy people)
The research of the Office of Technology Cooperation in Iran considers the scope of health tourism to include three sub-sectors and the following graph shows the activities in each section:

 Today, among all researchers and global organizations, this classification of health tourism is accepted, which was presented by Jalad.

A: Medical tourism:
Medical tourism
The most common and at the same time the most sensitive sub-branch of health tourism is related to medical tourism. These trips usually take place for the purpose of treatment of disease, surgery or control of the patient's health in clinics, medical centers and hospitals. Most of the medical tourism trips are to countries that have well-equipped medical services and facilities and the treatment costs are at a reasonable price.
 In the world, various countries are active in the field of health tourism and every year, while adopting strategic policies in this field, they attract patients from all over the world.
Of course, this type of tourism, in addition to relying on expertise and medical science, requires the presence of advanced equipment and destination hospitality services.
Kupta defines medical tourism as the provision of effective (high-quality, inexpensive) medical services in collaboration with tourism services for patients who require surgical procedures and other specialized services. According to him, tourism is a facilitating tool by which buyers identify providers of medical services, travel to those destinations and receive vacations and medical services there (Ovadzi and Panda, 2006).
This type of tourism can exist in any age group, but most of the tourists with retired age, from western countries, on average, 45-year-old women are the customers of this type of tourism. These customers usually have a high income, a high level of education and have a lot of time for tourism and meeting personal needs (Smith, 2010:91).
Esino and Seaton (20017) estimated that in 2004, about 41,000 people in England experienced a 6-month wait for various surgeries. Also, in America, many people cannot use it due to the high cost of insurance and have to pay exorbitant costs for treatment. (Adapted from Smith, 2009:150)
Medical tourism can be done anywhere, however, tourists prefer to do it in a country other than their own. Such as dentistry in Hungary, gender reassignment in Thailand, cosmetic surgery in South Africa and South America (Smith 2010:90)
Despite the importance of medical tourism, the medical literature does not provide much understanding of the topic. In fact, there are still many uncertainties about health and medical tourism. (Carra and Bridge 2:2006)
Bookman (2007) considers medical tourism as a connection between tourism and medicine:
It is an economic activity that includes service trade and represents the connection of at least two sectors, medicine and tourism (Bookman, 1:2007).
While defining medical tourism, Smith (2009) introduced a new characteristic to this field that showed the relationship between developed and developing countries in terms of medical tourism.
Medical tourism is a trip to a destination to undergo a series of medical treatments, including surgery or other medical matters. It can also be seen as the treatment and recovery of the first world at the prices of the third world. (Smith. 2009:102)
Also, the spectrum of medical tourism is wide and includes necessary surgeries, such as heart surgery, to unnecessary and less important surgeries, such as cosmetic and dental surgeries. (Smith, 2009:151)

B: Curative tourism:
Therapeutic travel to centers with natural healing resources and services under the supervision of a doctor is called nature healing tourism. These natural resources and services include hot water springs, salt lakes, salt domes and caves, bright sunshine, mud therapy, massage therapy, herbal bath, as well as a beautiful, clean and peaceful environment in order to improve skin, respiratory, rheumatology, muscle and or passing the recovery period after treatment and surgery. Thanks to God, the diverse nature of Iran has provided all kinds of natural healing resources to humans.

C: Wellness tourism:
Traveling to health villages and spas to get rid of the tensions of everyday life and to rejuvenate without medical intervention and supervision, and in cases where the tourist does not have a physical illness, is called wellness tourism.

Also, Kaufmann and Müller conducted a study on wellness tourism in Switzerland. They define health tourism as follows: "The collection of all the events that happened in a trip in which the most important motivation of people is to maintain or improve their health. In these trips, people stay in special hotels. These hotels provide comprehensive services. It includes the methods and skills of personal care, physical fitness, beauty care, healthy nutrition and proper diets, mental and educational exercises."

D: Health and wellness tourism/preventive tourism
In this type of trip, the tourist is looking for relaxation and to get rid of the tensions of daily life and to rejuvenate, he goes on a trip without medical intervention and supervision. Usually, these tourists do not have a specific physical illness and are mostly seeking to benefit from the healing nature and stay away from the crowds, tensions and pollution of urban life. In fact, the use of these facilities, both mentally and physically, restores a person's strength and provides the necessary energy to continue his normal activities. The people who are classified in this spectrum do not have any special discomfort or illness, but by using natural facilities, they actually prevent the occurrence of illness and physical and mental discomfort.


One of the attractions and privileges of Iran for medical tourism is in the field of hydrotherapy, so that more than 1000 mineral water springs have been identified. Other health tourism attractions in Iran include hotels and villas in the forest, desert, beach or mountains. that people can improve their health in complete peace in a clean environment.
Some researchers introduce spa tourism as a separate branch and consider it a type of tourism that emphasizes the relaxation of the body using water therapy (such as mineral waters, spa pools, steam rooms, and saunas). and helps to rehabilitate and rest the body. (Smith 85:2009) If we consider the various definitions of health tourism along with the time when those definitions were presented, the conclusion is that the definitions are appropriate for the development of tourism. Health are provided. That is, when the International Union of Official Travel Organizations presented its definition of health tourism in 1973, this concept was limited only to the use of mineral waters and healthy climate. With the increasing travel of patients to receive surgical services to different parts of the world, researchers have brought this phenomenon into the realm of health tourism. The evidence of this issue can be seen in the definitions of Kaufman and Muller, Jalad, Harahsheh, Carrera and Bridge. However, a single definition of health tourism and its types that is accepted by all researchers has not yet been provided. It must be accepted that in order to obtain a precise definition, many ambiguities must be resolved. For example, according to some definitions, patients' companions are also classified as health tourists. While the other category excludes the companions from this category, for this reason, the definition of health tourism provided by Kara and Brij (2006), and Jalad's division is more complete than other definitions and divisions:
Health tourism is an organized trip from the usual living environment in order to maintain health, or perform treatment to regain physical and mental health of a person, and in this regard, health tourism includes types of medical tourism, therapeutic tourism, and wellness tourism.