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Purpose- This study examines the effect of international patient motivators to travel (push factors and pull factors) on international patient intention to visit Egypt as medical tourism destination. It proposes a model which examines the relationship between push and pull factors and patient intention toward Egypt as a medical tourism destination. Also, this study presents an integrated approach to understanding the tourist's motivations and attempts to expand the empirical evidence on the relationships between push and pull motives in order to determine the extent to which these motivating factors will contribute to the overall perception of a destination Design/Methodology/Approach- The article is based upon a quantitative survey applied among 118 patients was visited Egypt as a medical tourism destination for receive treatment using snow ball sampling procedures. The items underlying push motivators, pull motivators, and patient intention constructs were derived from several literature sources and these were measured on a five-point Likert scale. Data were gathered through internet conducted with patient was visited Egypt for medical treatment. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships among the model constructs. Findings- The research findings reveal that; push factors have a positive impact on intention of patient except for rest and relaxation which has negative impact, although, rest and relaxation is the most effective push factor. Also, both pull factors (healthcare provider specific, destination specific) have positive impact on intention of patient. While, destination specific is the most effective pull factors. More specifically, the destination specific can be arranged as following: Environment and safety, Culture and historical attractions, then the tourism facilities. Moreover, the Healthcare provider service factors can be arranged as following: the Service quality, Waiting time, and Medical cost. Also, there are significant positive relationships between pull factors on push factors and vies versa with the same strength. Finally, the results revealed three push and six pull factor dimensions and the results of the correlation analysis indicate that significant relationships were found between the three push and the six pull factor dimensions Practical implications- Marketing managers, ministry of health and ministry of Tourism are provided with valuable insights to improve and invest in medical tourism sector in Egypt to help in achieving the strategic vision of Egypt 2030 which aims at building sustainable Egyptian economy. Understanding of the most factors which will affect the medical tourism industry sustainability performance in Egypt represents a very important step in building a sustainable economy and toward Egypt as a medical tourism hub. Through paying attention to international patients in terms of studying the most important attractions that drive them to choose Egypt as a medical tourism destination Originality/Value- This research offers value compared to other studies in medical tourism industry. Existing research in medical industrial sector stress the need to explore the factors essential for enhancing push and pull motivators for international patient toward Egypt as a medical tourism destination, in particular, the role of healthcare provider specific and destination specific is still need more improvement. Also, , there is a call for research examining the role of rest and relaxation in medical tourism as no research finds that their negative impact on patient intention relationship which is new contribution for this study. Moreover, few researches on medical tourism exist in emerging markets in Egypt.
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