If well-being was the keyword of the marketing in the era of transformation economy until now, it is 'healing' that has emerged as a new keyword in various industries, such as travel, food, and service and culture. Tourism industry has a direct relation to the diffusion of the healing trend and the birth of healing industry, and experience tourismcentered on forest, spar, slow city, food and alternative medicine. While the heating trend is expanding throughout society, there is little academic research on such social phenomena. Therefore, the competitiveness of heating tourist attractions would be greatly improved if the concept of heating tourism is established, and the service quality of healing tourism is accurately determined and assessed.
This study aimed to provide basic data on the establishment and operation of the appropriate development direction of healing tourism and marketing strategies by developing service quality criteria suitable for heating tourism through a review of the literature on existing service quality, using healing tourism service quality and selection properties as leading variables of healing tourism behaviour, and by deterring the influencing relation between the concepts of tourist satisfaction and brand royalty.
Toward this end, this study conducted a theoretical observation on service quality, healing tourism selection properties, tourist satisfaction, and brand royalty, based on which it performed an actual survey and analysis.
To develop service quality criteria for healing tourism, the study extracted 54 questions in 10 factors through a preliminary research on medical tourism services, tourist attractions service, public health tourism service, theme tours, and welcome services in resorts that are related to healing tourism services, and based on such data, it conducted group interviews with specialists, which resulted in 41 questions in eight factors. The survey questionnaire, consisting of 41 questions in eight factors, was performed, targeting tourists who visited healing tourist attractions, and by conducting a strategic analysis of such data to determine 31 questions in seven factors.
Using the 31 questions in seven factors in healing tourism service qualities, which were extracted by the criteria development, the study demonstrated the relation among healing tourism service quality, tourist satisfaction, and service quality.
The verification of the hypothesis showed that the effect of healing tourism service quality on the tourism nation and brand royalty was partly meaningful. Also the effect of healing tourism selection properties on tourist satisfaction and brand royalty was partly meaningful. It was shown that tourist satisfaction had a meaningful impact on brand royalty. While healing tourism service quality and healing tourism selection properties had an effect on experience satisfaction of tourist satisfaction, only one fact had an effect on consumer satisfaction.
Based on the result of this study, the study developed healing tourism service quality criteria with which to determine whether healing tourism services meet the consumers' desire and motives who want to have healing experience. Using such proposed criteria, it is believed that companies who supply hewing tourism products, such as resorts, will be able to acquire the competitive edge in the industry by measuring service quality based on customers and improving healing tourism service quality based on the measurement result. Furthermore, various studies could be conducted in relation to healing tourism services.
Secondly, the study offered basic data for helping businesses who develop healing tourist attractions and healing tourism facilities and local governments who wish to nurture healing tourism industry so that they can determine the direction for their policies by using the proposed healing tourism service quality criteria, based on the theory of tourist behaviour, and verifying the impact of healing tourism service quality and healing tourism selection properties on tourist satisfaction and brand royalty.
Thirdly, by stressing on curative properties and differentiating the program in resource development and policy establishment in relation to healing tourism, businesses could acquire an competitive edge in tourism industry, and local governments and institutions could achieve their objectives.
Future research plans to conduct a field survey on more diverse healing tourist spots by using healing tourism service quality criteria and also to conduct a relational study on preliminary and post-concepts related to the satisfaction level of healing tourists.