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LATIN AMERICA |
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Argentina Launches “Medical Tourism” Plan
BUENOS AIRES – The Argentine government on
Monday launched a plan to promote “medical
tourism,” whereby it hopes to attract
visitors who divide their stays between
getting medical treatment or operations and
sightseeing.
To get the initiative under way, the
National Institute for the Tourist Promotion
of Argentina, or Inprotur, struck accords
with a score of medical facilities that will
offer lodging and tourist visits to patients
from abroad.
“We’re also taking to the different fairs
around the world (a program) with
prestigious medical professionals,
latest-generation technology available in
the country, personalized attention and
comfort, added to unique tourist
attractions,” Tourism Secretary Enrique
Meyer said during the presentation of the
plan.
The government of Cristina Fernandez
launched the program after – over the past
few years – some clinics began offering
plans combining treatment with trips to the
country’s main tourist locations, like
Iguazu Falls or the gigantic Perito Moreno
Glacier.
These programs have attracted numerous
customers over the past few years who have
taken advantage of the low prices in the
South American country compared with the
costs of a European or U.S. holiday, a
circumstance that is due to the devaluation
of the peso which has been in place since
2002.
Most of the patients come to Argentina to
undergo cosmetic surgery, although there are
also people who come for medically necessary
operations, while many childless couples
come seeking fertility treatments.
“This work, which seeks to promote Argentine
medicine abroad, will be adopted as a state
policy that should remain in place over
time, obtaining good income for our country
with an activity that generates $60 billion
annually worldwide,” Meyer said.
The Medicine Argentina program includes
stays in luxury hotels, as well as “a great
variety of tourist and cultural
attractions,” according to an Inprotur
communique.
With the initiative, the government also is
seeking to reverse the dropoff in tourism to
the country because of the effects of the
global recession and the swine flu epidemic.
In August, the number of foreign visitors
had dropped by 31.8 percent compared with
the year before, according to a government
report released last week.
With income of $3.36 billion in 2008,
tourism was the country’s third-largest
source of foreign currency. EFE
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