Belize has once again pioneered another gateway to attracting more visitors and investors to our country, which is, through the emergence of ‘Medical Tourism’.
Under BELTRAIDE’s Compete Caribbean Project, Component 2 entails the identification of two priority sectors for investment. Medical Tourism and Business Processing Outsourcing have been identified as priority sectors.
There is certainly great potential for both industries to boom and create employment for our country, whilst increasing our Foreign Direct Investment.
With this said, Mr. Massimo Manzi, International Consultant, and the Executive Director of the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine (PROMED) has been contracted to develop a comprehensive sector strategy and implementation plan for investment promotion in the medical tourism sector.
Medical tourism can be defined as people travelling from one country to another for medical intervention based upon perceived personal value.
Patients would seek medical attention in another country based on affordability and availability of specialized doctors and facilities. At the same time, the patients can enjoy the tourism attraction while recovering. The foreigner will both contribute to the medical and tourism sectors.
In early August 2012, Mr. Manzi made his first mission to Belize and he conducted a workshop on medical tourism in order to create awareness of the new industry and to determine the receptiveness of our stakeholders.
The workshop was held at the George Price Center in the City of Belmopan, and stakeholders from both the medical and tourism industries participated in the event.
The event was considered an information sharing session which allowed stakeholders the opportunity to voice their opinion on the idea of medicaltourism.
Another workshop is scheduled for Friday, September 7, 2012 at the House of Culture in Belize City. If you are willing to participate, please free to contact BELTRAIDE to confirm your attendance.
