Kumiss treatment in the context of health tourism: a research in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Aim of the study: In this study, it is aimed to determine the satisfaction and loyalty perceptions of domestic and international tourists who receive kumiss treatment within health tourism in Kyrgyzstan. In the study, it was also attempted to find answers to some questions i.e. where the tourists having kumiss treatment in Kyrgyzstan come from, from where (which channel) did those tourists get information about kumiss treatment, how much budget they saved for this type of treatment and for what purpose they had this treatment. Materials and Methods: In the research, the data were collected by questionnaire technique from 156 tourists at 9 different accommodation enterprises offering kumiss treatment service in Kyrgyzstan. Cronbach's alpha test was made to check the reliability of scales used in the research, and factor analysis was made to test construct validities. Results:In the result of the study, it was determine that more than half of the participants were women (57.7%) and Kyrgyz citizens (58.3%), and mostly the people who were at the age of 51 years or more, received kumiss treatment (24.4%), most participants consist of the people who received kumiss treatment for the first time (32.7%). It was detected that the dimension which made participants most pleased were "dining services and satisfaction from facility's employees" (arithmetic mean: 4.64). Finally, statistically significant and positive relations were identified between satisfaction and loyalty perceptions of the participants towards accommodation enterprises they had their kumiss treatment. Conclusion: Current data reveal that the tourists receiving kumiss treatment in accommodation enterprises in Kyrgyzstan were generally satisfied and felt a high level of loyalty towards these facilities.