Modeling the Effects of Strategic Health Tourism Marketing Capabilities on Tourist Attraction Through Destination Experience and Brand Value: A Mixed-Method Study of Health Villages

Abstract

Health tourism has increasingly evolved from a treatment-oriented activity into a multidimensional destination-based industry in which marketing capabilities, experiential value, and destination branding jointly influence tourists’ attraction and behavioral responses. Despite the growing body of research on medical and wellness tourism, limited attention has been given to the integrated role of strategic marketing capabilities in health tourism villages, particularly through the mediating mechanisms of destination experience and brand value. This study develops and empirically examines an integrated model explaining how strategic health tourism marketing capabilities influence tourist attraction through destination experience and destination brand value. A mixed-method research design is proposed to identify the context-specific dimensions of strategic marketing capabilities and subsequently test the structural relationships among the principal constructs. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews with experts and key stakeholders in health tourism are used to identify and refine the dimensions and indicators of the proposed model. The resulting qualitative findings provide the basis for developing a structured measurement instrument for the quantitative phase. In the quantitative stage, data are collected from health tourists and analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques and structural equation modeling to evaluate the measurement and structural models. The proposed framework integrates market-oriented strategic capabilities, digital marketing capacity, destination-related communication, health tourism service positioning, destination experience, and brand value within a unified analytical structure. The model further conceptualizes tourist attraction as an outcome shaped not only by the direct influence of marketing capabilities but also by tourists’ experiential evaluations and perceptions of destination brand value. The study contributes to health tourism marketing literature by connecting strategic marketing capability theory with destination experience and branding perspectives within the specific context of health tourism villages. From a managerial perspective, the findings are expected to provide destination managers and health tourism operators with an evidence-based framework for prioritizing marketing capabilities, strengthening experiential value, enhancing destination brand positioning, and improving the effectiveness of tourist attraction strategies.