Health and wellness tourism, a window of opportunity for Banderas Bay
Health tourism has become one of the main income-generating niches in some countries like Mexico, which represents sustainable and constant growth, according to a report issued by Deloitte in 2019, this niche generated nearly 4 billion dollars. This number added to data issued by Patients Beyond Borders, which places the country in the top five destinations in the world, with more than one million foreign patients every year, many of them Hispanic from the states of California, Arizona and Texas.
Even though tourism stopped during Covid-19 lockdown, some niches managed better than others and even found opportunities like health tourism and its main axes, medical and wellness tourism.
According to data from the Medical Tourism Association, 14 million people travel to other countries searching for medical care, generating between 50 and 70 billion dollars. The majority of people who do this are Americans looking to save money with quality alternatives with a better price other than those offered in their country.
Wellness tourism has had a global increase of 33% in the past couple of years, according to the Global Wellness Institute, China and India leading increasing rapidly but with the United States and Europe leading the charts.
These tourists are also looking for an attractive destination, with health professionals who show reliability and warmth to have a pleasant recovery.
Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay in the Banderas Bay region have most of these requirements: health professionals, an increasing number of hospitals and institutions providing high-quality services, the most beautiful beaches and a wide range of natural and cultural places to visit.
Both of these destinations have a great chance to reactivate their economy, even though some efforts are going to have to be done to attract tourists whose purpose is to receive medical treatment, or relaxing treatments in a wellness center. Hotels, restaurants and other services may be used not only by the patient, but also by their companions besides the clinics and hospitals.
There’s a huge potential for Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas to become one of the main health and wellness destination in México.
What do you think? I’ll be reading your comments.