Specificities of human resource management in health tourism institutions in comparison with traditional healthcare institutions in the Republic of Serbia

The subject of this paper is the specificities of human resource management in health tourism institutions in comparison with traditional healthcare institutions in the Republic of Serbia. The aim is to establish whether the situation is better in health tourism institutions compared to traditional healthcare institutions in the Republic of Serbia regarding: a) the number and qualifications of human resources, b) relationships among staff (including both employees and managers), c) staff attitudes towards assets, d) relationships between patients and staff, and e) patients' attitudes towards assets. During June and July 2024, research was conducted using a printed questionnaire. Respondents rated their agreement with the statements using a five-point Likert scale. The respondents (107) were individuals familiar with the concept and characteristics of health tourism, who additionally had either education in the field of healthcare or experience working in the healthcare sector. Generally speaking, the results showed that, in health tourism institutions compared to institutions in the field of traditional healthcare, the situation is better in terms of the number of human resources, mutual relationships among staff, staff attitudes towards assets, relationships between patients and staff, and patients' attitudes towards assets. It is concluded that the inclusion of traditional healthcare institutions in health tourism activities can lead to improvements in the state of human resources and their management. The recommendation is that healthcare institutions should be encouraged to engage in health tourism.