The long-cherished medical tourism project for Cancún will begin to crystallize during this month of October with a project called “Health City” on the grounds of Grupo Palace that have already begun the development third-party investors.
Jabib Chapur, Vice President of Food and Beverage of the Grupo Palace hotel chain, announced 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.
It is built in the territorial reserve of the Palace chain, just 10 minutes away from the Cancun airport, and in addition to medical services, a Dolphin Discovery dolphinarium is already in process, with an investment in the order of the 3 million US dollars.
The manager of the Palace chain said that 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.
(Photo: eleconomista.com)
Miguel Ángel Lemus, vice president of the Business Coordinating Council and real estate entrepreneur said that it is a long-term project, since in addition to specialized 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 said it is another step in the diversification of tourist services in Cancun and Quintana Roo, because although medical services were already offered to international tourism, “Health City” that has already begun to develop. will be the largest complex if its kind in all the Yucatan Peninsula, seeking to attract the multimillion-dollar medical tourism market, mainly from the US.
Since 2014, the construction of a similar project called Wisdoms Gardens was planned, promoted by the Medical Tourism Association of Quintana Roo, which involved the construction of six hospitals in the medium term:
- Pediatrics Hospital)
Wellness and Antiaging Center)
Orthopedic Hospital)
Stem Cell Research Center
The Cancun Oncology Center)
Dental Clinic)
The Wisdoms Gardens project was mainly focused in capturing the medical market from the United States and Canada.
In addition, it would have research and entertainment centers, shopping areas, restaurants, botanical gardens, meditation areas, art galleries, sports clubs, aquatic centers and artificial lakes, however, the project was not carreied out, because no land was available.
At that time, Servando Acuña, one of the main promoters of medical tourism in Cancun, assured that the most demanded specialties by American patients are plastic surgery, particularly liposculpture, restorative or cosmetic dental treatments, bariatric surgery, orthopedics -replacement of the knee or hip- and fertility treatments, which costs are up to 70% lower in Mexico than in the United States, which makes an investment of these dimensions in the country very profitable.
SMT Newsroom with information from El Economista
