Costa Rica’s health tourism market topic of upcoming forum

Business owners, professionals and investors in health and wellness tourism will discuss the industry’s future in Costa Rica at the 2015 edition of the National Health Tourism Forum, ExpoMED 2015.

The event will take place Nov. 25 at San José Palacio Hotel, west of the capital. Among the main topics attendees will discuss are quality standards, customer support, potential markets in Costa Rica and corporate wellness programs at U.S. and Canadian companies.

The event is organized by the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine (PROMED) and supported by public agencies and tourism chambers. It will also include a business forum with representatives from local and international companies who will also display their products and services at a fair.

PROMED president Jorge Cortés Rodríguez said the forum “aims to facilitate networking between medical and tourism companies” and will allow for a high-level discussion on challenges facing the industry.

Experts from different areas will be offering free counseling to small and medium-size enterprises about investment, project management, risk mitigation, and wellness and health tourism.

Organizers are hoping for high participation, mostly from businesses in the hotel, medical and retirement sectors and among those offering specialized services such as spa treatments, therapy, relaxation and nutrition.

PROMED’s most recent data indicate that in 2011 the country attracted just over 48,000 medical tourists, generating some $338 million in revenue.

The latest survey by the International Medical Tourism Index ranks Costa Rica fifth in medical tourism services, just after Canada, the U.K., Israel and Singapore.