strategies to increase health tourism attraction from iraq with emphasis on financial investment and smart marketing in ilam province

Introduction: medical tourism in ilam province has significant potential but remainsunderutilized, particularly among iraqi patients. this study examines effective strategiesfor developing medical tourism, focusing on financial investment and smart marketing toenhance competitiveness.methods: a mixed-methods approach was applied. the qualitative phase used thematicanalysis via maxqda 2020, analyzing semi-structured interviews with 18 experts (6 hospitalmanagers, 5 university professors, and 7 private sector professionals’ data were collected in2025). the screening phase involved 12 specialists (4 senior executives, 5 academic researchers,and 3 marketing consultants). the quantitative phase collected 128 questionnaires fromemployees of ilam’s cultural heritage and tourism organization, analyzed using spss 21.results: in the qualitative phase, a total of 38 strategies were identified within two mainsubthemes—19 strategies related to financial investment attraction and 19 to smartmarketing—which were confirmed by expert consensus through the fuzzy delphi method.in the quantitative phase, using friedman’s test, financial strategies received a higheraverage ranking (mean rank: 18.65) compared to marketing strategies (12.39). the toprankeditems overall included the health economic zone, five-year tax exemptions, and aloan guarantee fund.conclusion: advancing medical tourism in ilam requires the simultaneous prioritizationof financial incentives (such as special economic zones and tax exemptions) and innovativedigital marketing. streamlining investment procedures, developing multilingual digitalplatforms, and strengthening public-private partnerships are essential steps to increaseforeign patient attraction. these integrated strategies will help position ilam as a competitivedestination in the regional health tourism market.