Khanal Bishnu Prasad and Tetsuo Shimizu
In this research, we proposed a systematic model by integrating exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation model (SEM) to examine the major contributing factors and their relative importance to destination competitiveness for Nepal as a health tourism destination from health tourist’s perspectives for the health tourism development. SEM examined the relationships between the individual factors, and the established model was validated by hypothesis testing and goodness-of-fit tests. Since the study has used a structural equation modeling approach to test the hypothesis and figure out the relative importance of the factors, the fundamental indicators such as normed Chi-square (111.301), RMSEA (0.064), GFI (0.944) and CFI (0.961) values shows the overall model fit of the proposed model. It was found that destination competitiveness was profoundly influenced by trust and service standard and trust influenced by the quality standard. In, contrast; destination competitiveness did not have a statistically significant impact on the quality standard. The developed model clarified the causal relationships within a major contributing factor for health tourism development, thus providing a guideline to improve marketing strategy for health tourism providers and guideline to improve suitable health tourism policy for government agencies.
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