CACTUS CACTUS J Tour Bus Manag Econ CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics 2247-3297 ASE Publishing House Bucharest, Romania cactus-2016-13 Research Article Z39, Z32 Changes of Tourists’ Motivations and Preferences towards Health Tourism Services. Case Study: The Potential Tourism Cluster Moineşti-Târgu Ocna-Slănic Moldova Găman George https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5545-2299 gaman.george07@gmail.com Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, România 15 12 2016 14 2 15122016 Copyright © 2016, The Author(s) 2016 The Author(s) This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

In the context in which society is evolving at a high speed and lifestyle is becoming increasingly stressful, the tourist, respectively patient-tourist motivations and preferences meet changes also. In these conditions, health resorts are forced to fold on the actual situation and to adjust their tourist offer for meeting the customer’s needs and for keeping, at least, the number of tourist arrivals. The actual paper tried to ensure if the motivations and preferences of Romanian modern patient-tourist correspond with the conclusions of global trend described in specialized literature, through survey amongst residents of Moineşti municipality, Târgu Ocna and Slănic Moldova health resorts. According to the specialized literature, the modern tourist is well informed, he has a higher level of knowledge, he is looking for an active and sprinkled stay with unique and complex activities. The results highlighted several similarities and differences between specialized literature and the present study, showing that Romania’s situation does not entirely correspond with the global trend.

 Keywords tourist motivations tourist preferences health tourism health resorts Moineşti Târgu Ocna Slănic Moldova

Full text available in PDF format.

References Ban, Olimpia (2005). Noile motivaţii de consum turistic. Analele Ştiinţelor Economice, Vol. 2005, Turism durabil. Bowen, D. and Clarke, J. (2009). Contemporary Tourist Behaviour. CABI, UK, ISNB-13: 978 1 84593 520 7. Cai, L.A., Feng, R. and Breiter, Deborah (2003). Tourist purchase decision involvement and information preferences. Journal of Vacantion Marketing, Vol. 10, pp. 138-148. Cooper, C. and Hall, M. (2008). Contemporary Tourism, Elsevier, UK, ISBN: 978-0-7506-6350-2. Correia, Antonia, Kozak, M. and Ferradeira, J. (2013). From tourist motivations to tourist satisfaction, International Journal of Culture. Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 7(4), pp. 411-424. Decrop, A. (2010). Contemporary tourist behaviour: yourself and others as tourists. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 37(2), pp. 568-569. Foisner, F. (2007). Physician and patient at a health resport. Expectations and reality [online], Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17928947, [Accessed 3/08/2016]. Funk, D.C. and Bruun, T.J. (2007). The role of socio-psychological and culture-education motives in marketing international sport tourism: a cross-cultural perspective. Tourism Management, Vol. 28(3), pp. 806-819. Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (2006). Future of Leisure Travel- Trend Study, Ed. Koni, Zurich. Like a Local (2015). What do modern day travelers and reality tv have in common [online], Available from: http://www.likealocalguide.com/blog/the-post-tourist-what-do-modern-day-travelers-and-reality-tv-have-incommon, [Accessed 3/08/2016]. Mortimer, K. and Mathews, B.P. (1997). The Advertising of Services: Costumer Views. Normative Guidelines. Academy of Marketing Conference, Manchester. Ostrowski, S. (1983). 'Josta Krippendorfa wolanie o nowq swiatowq polityke turystycznq'. Problemy Turystyki, nr. 3. Pirnar, I., Icoz, O. and Icoz, O. (2010). The new tourist: impacts on the hospitality marketing strategies. EuroCHRIE Amsterdam 2010: Passion for Hospitality Excellence, 25-28 October 2010, Movenpick Hotel, Amsterdam. Pritikin (2014). Six Considerations for Choosing a Health Resort [online], Available from: https://www.pritikin.com/6-choosing-health-resort#.VFyqZPmsUuI, [Accessed 2/08/2016]. Richards, G. (2011). Tourism, culture and cultural routes. Khovanova-Rubicondo, K. (ed) Impact of European Cultural Routes on SMEs innovation and competitiveness, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, pp. 21-39. Radu, Anamaria and Orzan, Gh. (2013). Conceptual Model of Consumer Satisfaction in Balneary Touristic Services. Romanian Journal of Marketing, pp. 76-86. Rotariu, I. (2008). Dezvoltarea destinației turistice. Alma Mater publisher, ISBN: 978-973-632-495-6, Sibiu. Vellas, F. and Becherel, L. (1995). International Tourism, MacMillan Press Ltd, ISBN 0333615239, London. Yoon, Y. and Uysal, M. (2005). 'An examination of the effects of motivation and satisfaction on destinations loyalty: a structural model', Tourism Management, Vol. 26(1), pp. 45-56.