THE SOCIAL ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF INNER EXIT TOURISM: ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR OF PATIENTS IN CONDITIONS OF INTER-REGIONAL MOBILITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to explore both social economic and demographic characteristics of patients seeking medical care at the Stavropol Kray Consultative Diagnostic Center from other regions and motivation of their satisfaction, contentment and barriers for inner exit tourism. The survey was carried out covering 297 patients arrived to the Center from other regions of the Russian Federation in 2024. The technique of descriptive statistics and the Pearson χ² criterion were applied. It is established that women made up 62% of respondents. Their average age made up to 31-45 years. The main reasons to address from outside of region of residence were absence of specialists of required profile (32.7%), inefficiency of treatment of younger residents (32.3%) and inaccessibility of modern diagnostic resources (25.6%). The high level of satisfaction with provided medical services was reported by 87.2% of patients. The conclusion. The study results permit to conclude that development of inner exit tourism is related to level of accessibility and quality of medical services and information distribution for population. The recommendations concerning development of system of inter-regional medical mobility are proposed.