DOT to push medical, real estate tourism

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
October 05, 2008


ILOILO CITY -- The financial crisis in the United States could mean opportunities for the Philippines, particularly in medical tourism, Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano has said.
Durano, who was here during the weekend for the national congress of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines, said tourism in the country could still grow despite belt-tightening measures worldwide.

“The crisis has also provided us with opportunities, especially in those we consider ‘recession-proof’ products,” Durano told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.

He said one of the key industries that offered such opportunities is medical tourism, which invites foreign patients to avail themselves of quality but cheaper health care services in the country.

With the expected increase in the cost of services in the US and other countries and reductions in the incomes of their citizens, those needing health care may look to other countries for cheaper services.

“Our biggest markets are the US and Japan which have a significant aging population that would look for ways to stretch their budgets and will look for less costly treatment,” Durano said.

The Department of Health, however, recently suspended kidney transplantations on foreign patients in the country after human rights groups expressed alarm over the increasing number of “medical tourists” who came here to buy kidneys from poor Filipinos.

Durano said real estate tourism was another growth area he had in mind. The Department of Tourism has launched a “Live Your Dreams” campaign to attract tourists into buying condominiums near the country’s beaches, golf courses and mountain retreats.

Durano called this “lifestyle real estate development.” He said people with extra incomes usually invested in real estate as a safety measure during an economic slowdown because it has always been considered an inflation-resistant investment.

The campaign is focusing on tourists from the Asia-Pacific region, who have a high percentage of repeat visits.

“We are asking these regular tourists to invest in vacation homes in the country because they frequently come here,” said Durano.

He said this would help the real estate industry as well as boost tourism because foreigners would stay in their vacation homes longer.

An investment in a condo unit by the beach would cost an average $100,000. This would be equivalent to 100 regular tourists who spent an average of $1,000 per visit, he said.

Despite the world crisis, Durano said he was expecting tourist arrivals in the country to increase from 4 to 6 percent.

He said tourist arrivals in the country from January to July grew by 6 percent. He attributed this to the success of marketing campaigns in Europe and Asia, which have compensated for the slack in other markets.

“At a time like this, we need a microscopic vision to go and see beyond what’s on the surface,” Durano said.

In an effort to show that the Philippine health care system is “at par with the best in the world,” the DOT will hold the biggest medical tourism and wellness summit in the Southeast Asian region at the end of the month.

Joyce Alumno, Philippine Health and Wellness Tourism Summit project director, said in a press conference on Friday that they hope to “showcase the Philippines as a provider of world-class, globalized health care, with excellent quality, patient safety and the uniquely Filipino culture of caring, kindness and compassion,”

Alumno said the summit, to be held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila on Oct. 22-25, also aimed to address the misconception that the Philippines had “third world” health care.

“This conjures up images of decrepit medical facilities, insufficiently trained doctors, nurses and medical professionals and an overall backward state of affairs,” she said, claiming that “such a picture is false.”

Dr. Anthony Calibo, Medical Tourism Program manager of the DOH, noted that the Philippines had established some of the earliest specialty hospitals in Asia. He referred to the Philippine Heart Center,the National Kidney Transplant Institute, the Lung Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

Calibo believes the Philippines, by concentrating on three clusters -- medical, wellness and retirement, had an advantage over its faster growing neighbors like Thailand, Singapore and India.

Explaining this strategy, he said the medical cluster involved the delivery of hospital-based services and surgical clinic services, while the wellness cluster involved spa facilities, corporate wellness programs, and alternative lifestyles.

The retirement cluster includes the establishment of retirement villages, geriatric clinics and specialty services of nurses involved in retirement health care.

He added, “Our neighbors are also learning from the Filipinos’ hospitality.”

Tourism Undersecretary Cynthia Carrion said they have been looking into positioning the Philippines as a medical tourism destination for 50 million uninsured and 30 million underinsured Americans.

By conservative estimates, the doctor-to-patient ratio in the Philippines is 1: 10,000. In the United States it is 1:150 and many of them are Filipinos.

Recently Cuba offered to sent doctors to the Philippines. Almost half of Filipinos die without the benefit of trained medical attention, according to former health secretary A.G.Romualdez.