PEZA to help push medtourism growth

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippines has strengthened its move to push the growth of medical tourism in the country, as this is one of the major drivers to increase tourism-based revenues.

This is the vow made by Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) director general Charito Plaza, reinforcing earlier pronouncements made by officials of Department of Tourism, and Board of Investments (BOI), among others.

According to Plaza, PEZA is also enhancing its programs aimed at encouraging the investments of world-class medical tourism facilities around the country.

PEZA, she said is one with other government agencies, to make attractive offers in attracting dollar-earning industries in tourism, and medical tourism is one of the highest priorities.

"We want tourists to spend more their dollars heres," said Plaza.

Likewise, Department of Tourism (DOT) assistant secretary Benito Bengzon affirmed Plaza's pronouncements saying the Philippines is working on to identify to only promote its top competitive advantage in the medical tourism field.

Bengzon admitted that while the Philippines has all it takes to lure this high-revenue market in medical tourism, it has difficulty in competing with established destinations in Asia like Thailand and Singapore.

He said the Philippine government through the DOT is now reviewing its medical tourism roadmap, and will narrow down to focusing only on the services that the Philippines has huge advantage compared to other destinations.

These include among others, the positioning of the Philippines as destination for executive medical check-up services, orthopedics and aesthetic dental services.

In 2015, the Philippines has landed the eighth spot in a list of top medical tourism destinations in the world.

In a list complied by the International Healthcare Research Center and the Medical Tourism Association (MTA), the Philippines ranked ahead of countries like Japan and France. Canada emerged as the top medical tourism destination worldwide followed by the United Kingdom and Israel, which came second and third, respectively.

On the other hand, Retirement Healthcare Coalition (RHC), which is led by American, European, Japanese, and Korean Chambers of Commerce, said that the Philippines needs to step up because its Asian neighbors have gone ahead by stepping up the infrastructure of their retirement villages to get the bigger share of the “ballooning” silver market, which is expected to make up about 25 percent of the world’s population in the year 2030.

According to Marc Daubenbuechel, RHC Executive Director, the number of retirees looking for homes outside their own countries is increasing each year so the Philippines must be able to cater to their need for retirement communities that fit their lifestyle.

Daubenbuechel warned that the country could miss out on this booming market if the developers continue to offer mere sleeping quarters, rather than a retirement village.

He said that retirees live in traditional communities or residential developments and this existing retirement homes are not-senior citizen friendly because of the lack of important amenities for the leisure, entertainment, and most importantly, the health and wellness of the retirees. (FREEMAN)