Jamaica Close To Completing Roadmap For Medical Tourism

Online, May 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The potential economic value of health and wellness tourism in Jamaica, its prospects for job creation and the critical requirements for putting the sector in motion will top the agenda at the national stakeholder workshop being staged by JAMPRO and the National Health and Wellness Taskforce on May 17 at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel.

The workshop is being hosted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, which provided JAMPRO with funding to develop a strategic roadmap and action plan for the island's health and wellness sector. With this assistance, the services of UK-based consultants CTA Economic and Export Analysts Limited was engaged to inform the development of the roadmap. The findings from the research, which include a detailed analysis of the opportunities and supply-side capacity in Jamaica, will be presented and discussed at the event.

The roadmap, which is scheduled for completion in early July, is expected to clearly define Jamaica's strategic priorities for the development of the sector. This includes identifying priority sub-sectors and addressing regulatory and legal changes, institutional framework, public investment, national product development and promotion. This initiative represents a collaborative effort of the Ministries of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Health and Tourism. Once the roadmap is completed and reviewed, the recommendations of the Taskforce will be presented to Cabinet for approval.

Since January of this year, JAMPRO has been spearheading the national drive to diversify tourism investments into the area of health and wellness, which is also referred to as medical tourism. In September 2009, the government demonstrated its commitment to this cause by approving a collaborative submission to Cabinet from the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce and the Ministry of Health, which sought to package appropriate opportunities for investments in the sector and establish a National Health and Wellness Taskforce. The Taskforce, which has its secretariat housed at JAMPRO, is responsible for supervising and facilitating the implementation of the initiative.

According to estimates from Tourism Research and Marketing (TRAM), the global value of medical tourism in 2010 exceeded US$40 billion. By volume, this represents 4 per cent of all tourism trips and 40 million trips worldwide. Based on the escalating cost of healthcare, it is expected that the number of medical tourists from Europe, North America and the Middle East will grow significantly in the coming years. Similarly, the number of purpose-built facilities in destination markets is also expected to grow to meet this demand.

Jamaica's proximity to the large North American market, excellent hotel and tourism services, well-trained cadre of English-speaking health professionals and relatively lower labour costs and other inputs are among the many advantages that position the island as a favourable destination for the development of medical/health and wellness tourism. This segment of the tourism sector has shown the strongest growth and value, with the average medical tourist estimated to spend upwards of US$300 per night, which is US$200 more than the average estimated spend by stopover visitors.