Significant increase in Medical Tourism for Baja California

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The number of tourists arriving in Baja California due to medical issues has tripled in the last five years, as in 2014 nearly 800 thousand travelers arrived at the destination, while for this year the figure increased to 2,400,000.

Visitors who come to the north of the country do so for reasons of dental health, plastic surgery, weight loss, diabetes or hypertension control, leaving an economic benefit of 3.6 billion pesos just in Tijuana.

In this sense, Óscar Escobedo Carignan, Tourism Secretary of Baja California, mentioned that the economic spill for medical tourism during 2017 was 14.5 billion pesos, and by the end of this year, they expect an increase of 8 percent.

He stated that in Tijuana there are medical centers for the recovery of patients with a cost between 40 and 80% lower than in their country of origin. “There are hotels that offer recovery services to people who travel for medical treatments, in which a nurse is avialable as well as medications and special food requirements.”

In this regard, Bernabé Esquer Peraza, Secretary of Economic Development of Tijuana, said that the digitalization of a medical express lane, connecting Mexico with the United States is underway, so that the visitor can open the booth from a mobile phone.

I estimate that the conclusion of the works will be at the end of November, since at the moment it presents an advance of 86 percent. Esquer Peraza said that they proposed to the federal government and to the US the opening of another medical express lane between San Diego and Tijuana.

Source:The Baja Post