According to the Yucatán Times, progress with the ‘Health City’ project will boost medical tourism in Cancún. The ultimate aim is to create the largest health complex of its kind in the Yucatan Peninsula, targeting the multimillion-dollar medical tourism market, mainly from the US. A high-profile medical tourism construction project announced in 2014 has failed to take off however.
The article quotes Jabib Chapur, Vice President of Food and Beverage of the Grupo Palace hotel chain, confirming that the first hotel of the City Exprés chain will be inaugurated this month, while a second lodging center of the NH Hoteles firm is also in the final phase of construction.
“It is a complex where the arrival of large firms of private hospitals and specialized services for retirees from the United States, Canada and Europe is expected”, Jabib Chapur said. He said the project will be developed almost entirely by third-party investors, but on land owned by Grupo Palace, and although there will be hotels and specialized lodging services, most of these establishments will be operated by other companies and not by Grupo Palace.
Miguel Ángel Lemus, vice president of the Business Coordinating Council said that it is a long-term project, since in addition to specialised clinics, the complex will feature shopping centers, convention centers, spas, housing areas, luxury condominiums, office buildings, entertainment areas, as well as spaces for scientific research. He claims it will ultimately be the largest complex if its kind in the Yucatan Peninsula, seeking to attract the multimillion-dollar medical tourism market, mainly from the US.
The article states that an ambitious medical tourism project in 2014 called Wisdoms Gardens, promoted by the Medical Tourism Association of Quintana Roo and involving the construction of six hospitals, failed due to lack of available land.
The Yucatan Peninsula is one of many popular destinations in Mexico for inbound medical tourism. Almost all medical tourists are from the US, with a few from Belize and the Caribbean Islands, Australia, Canada and Europe, although the latter two are probably mostly tourists and expatriates. Mexico receives a high number of medical tourists as a result of their low comparative prices.
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