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This paper aims to determine the knowledge and attitudes of the physicians regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), to emphasize that these patients exist and they will exist in the future and to raise awareness so as to prevent that their rights to treatment are revoked.

The survey was conducted via a link sent through an online system. Random physicians from 81 cities of the country were invited to the survey. The survey has 41 questions regarding knowledge and attitudes in total, including epidemiological information such as age, gender and title.

A total of 3,107 physicians has voluntarily participated in the study. In total, 2,195 (70.7%) are internal physicians and 912 (29.3%) are surgical physicians among the participant physicians. In total, 1,452 (46.7%) of the participants are specialist physicians, 608 (19.6%) of the participants are practising physician and the rest of it is physician assistants, academicians and dentists, respectively.

In this study, it has been found out that the physicians have a lack of knowledge on HIV/AIDS and they adopt a discriminatory attitude towards HIV-positive persons. HIV-positive patients who are exposed to discrimination and scared of being uncovered refrain from applying to hospitals for treatment, which puts public health into jeopardy due to the high viral load and these patients are faced with difficulties in coping with both medical and emotional load of the disease.

The competitiveness of destinations is crucial for tourism. In this context, the study aims to uncover customer satisfaction, experiences, feelings, and thoughts by conducting a comparative analysis of social media comments from various competitive tourism destinations.

Big data research was conducted to answer the research questions. The data was collected on a social media platform focusing on three destinations in the Mediterranean region. Three methods were employed to analyse the data: sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and named-entity recognition.

This study addressed traveller satisfaction levels. It identified the topics concerning each destination, examined the emotions expressed by travellers about these topics, explored the potential impact on future behaviour, and investigated the features of the destinations and satisfaction levels about these features. It also identified the prominent food and beverage names in destinations and explored tourists’ preferences regarding these foods and beverages.

The limitations of this study relate to the sample. The data used in this study was solely obtained from a single social media platform and focused on English-only comments. Further research that includes different social media platforms for hotel categories and considers reviews in local languages could capture a broader range of customer opinions and experiences.

Policymakers can gain insight into a destination’s position in the competitive landscape. This study has numerous implications for policymakers in the relevant destinations and managers in the design and implementation of services.

The findings of this study can have broader societal implications if considered and implemented by decision-makers and tourism businesses in the context of competitiveness.

The study’s originality lies in integrating multiple disciplines and comparing tourism destinations using big data. This study improves the understanding of competitiveness in three specific Mediterranean destinations. Previous research has focused on different contexts in these Mediterranean destinations. Therefore, the study fills this gap by focusing simultaneously on all three destinations in the context of competitiveness.