An Analysis of Attractiveness Factors in Medical Tourism (Based on the Cases of China and Russia)

Medical tourism in the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative is experiencing significant growth. The article aims to identify the impact of various external stimuli on tourists’ internal evaluations and behavior in the field of medical tourism through the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model. The article researches the influence of tourists’ attitudes, perceived value, perceived costs, facilitating conditions, IT support, tourist satisfaction, and travel readiness. A non-probability sampling method was used among 640 respondents over the age of 18 from Russia and China. Data were collected using five-point Likert-scale questionnaires, and the analysis was conducted using PLS-SEM algorithm. The structural model demonstrated a coefficient of determination of R² = 0.597, explaining 59.7% of the variance in the model. Tourists’ attitudes, perceived value, perceived costs, and IT support showed a significant positive effect on satisfaction and travel readiness. Facilitating conditions influenced satisfaction but did not affect travel readiness. Tourist satisfaction acted as a significant mediator between the studied factors and medical tourism behavior.