During the past year, Mexico received $1.798 billion USD in economic impact from medical tourists.
One of the challenges facing tourism in Mexico is diversification to attract travelers from abroad, who leave more money, including those who come for health reasons, said Enrique de la Madrid, head of the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur).
The rise of the dollar against the peso in the last two years, coupled with the discount of up to 81 percent in treatments offered in Mexico compared to the United States, has accelerated the growth of medical tourism and welfare in the country.
The certified units focused on medical tourism are located mainly in three regions of the country: the border and northern metropolises such as Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Ciudad Juárez and Reynosa; The center and west of the country, including Mexico City, Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, Querétaro; And finally, the one corresponding to the peninsula of Yucatán, with Mérida and Benito Juárez.
Merida Mayor watching the model of the new hospital Faro del Mayab (Photo: Google)
According to data from Euromonitor, last year this sector left in Mexico a spill of $4.798 million USD, which was an increase of 5.2% compared to 2015 and the highest growth rate in three years.
In addition, the expectation is that this year it will increase almost six percent and exceed six billion dollars.
“We had never had a medical tourism like the current one, it is an exponential industry that is based on two things: how attractive Mexico is as a destination of pleasure and that there is a good private health system, in addition to that the exchange rate has made increase the arrival of foreigners,” said Carlos Arce, president of the Medical Tourism Business Council.
Medical tourism refers to travelers arriving in Mexico for reasons of surgical procedures, treatment or well-being in order to improve personal health.
According to data from the International Medical Tourism Association discharged in a ProMexico report, in the country the procedures have an average discount of 81 percent in relation to the costs in the United States. A spine surgery has an average cost of 100 thousand dollars in the American Union, in Mexico it is in the range of 12 thousand dollars.
For more information on Medical Tourism go to http://www.yucatanhealthcare.com/?lang=en
Source: www.elfinanciero.com.mx
