Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini - Department of Health Services Management, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Ali Maher - Department of Health Services Management, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Omidreza Safarian - Department of Health Services Management, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Ali Ayoubian - Health Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Donya Sheibani-Tehrani - Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Hossein Amini-Anabad - Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Hashemidehaghi - Eye Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Introduction: Iran has considerable potentials for growth of health tourism. However, they have not been properly realized towards national development.This paper has attempted to prioritize the development strategies of health tourism in Iran which has been conducted on the hospitals of Tehran. Methods: This study is a descriptive-analytical research. It was carried out in ۲۰۱۳ and the sample size was determined through snowball non-probability sampling. A questionnaire was administered to ۲۹ participants and the development strategies were formulated by SWOT. Results: The findings of the research showed that the weakness points of the health tourism industry override the strength points. This is while the opportunities of development are more than threats. Conclusion: One may conclude that Iran’s health tourism is in a weakness opportunity (WO) situation and needs strategies which have been specially designed for such situations. Therefore, the improvement strategies (WO) have been located in priority for the development of health tourism in Iran.

Strategy of Development, Health tourism, SWOT, Iran