Health Tourism—A New System-Model Based on the Four Basic Elements

Abstract

Due to the complexity of health tourism and due to the excellent thermal, mineral, and medicinal water qualities of Hungary and Romania, as water is one of the four ancient elements determined by Aristotle, such treasures play an important role not only in the field of economy, but also in social life. As one of the oldest forms of tourism is spa-tourism, the present research focuses on this branch of health tourism, which, in its offers, has as its main focus on thermal and medicinal waters in Hungary and Romania. Thanks to the favorable geological conditions of the two neighboring countries, the attraction-based system of health tourism is built on a multi-element model. Based on this, the paper aims at discussing the system of water-based health tourism based on the four ancient elements. These four elements are water, fire, earth, and air. Making use of Lee’s European Health and Wellness Model Services, we have created a four-element water-based health tourism system. The modeling of the system consists of a survey of tourism in the selected spa/wellness facilities. In case of successful testing, the model should be incorporated in the terminology of health tourism in both countries.