TIJUANA.- Various sectors of Baja California's economy will receive state support, and this is especially true for the Medical Tourism sector, according to the Secretary of Tourism for the State of Baja California (SECTURE), Oscar Jesus Escobedo Carignan.

"The recent visit paid to the state by the Federal Tourism Secretary, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, as part of the Governor Francisco Vega's tour, was very fruitful. It is important to note that Baja California is an important region for the medical tourism sector. Just this state alone provides about 40% of the income for this sector in Mexico", according to him.

The state functionary emphasized that Baja California has united with the leadership of this sector at a national level, and is the first state in the country with a Medical Tourism Administration, and in the short term will be coming up with public policy to systematically impulse this sector.

"The Secretary is very supportive of our role in this important sector, which has incredible potential, and has even indicated that what is being accomplished in Baja should be used as a pilot program throughout the country, " he continued.

Escobedo highlighted the fact that Medical Tourism in Baja California annually attracts around 500 million dollars to the State, and that travelling for medical related reasons is the second most common reason why international visitors come, with around 1.2 million people arriving for this reason alone.

"Based on this, we are asking SECTUR to include Medical Tourism in their product lineups for promotional campaigns, so that resources may be set aside for the marketing of these activities, and campaigns designed to incentivize foreign tourism and wellbeing tourism in Mexico, " said Escobedo.

The SECTURE director added that a request to establish Baja California as the headquarters for the soon-to-be established National Medical Tourism Commision, based on the importance of this state in this activity, as well as its geographic proximity to potential visitors from the U.S was proposed.

According to Escobedo, "we had an excellent exchange with the national representative of tourism, who seemed very receptive to our proposals, not only in these terms but also in terms of other topics we discussed during their visit, and which we will be revealing to the public soon."

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