The National Federation of Private Clinics (FNCP), the National Association of Spas (ANBAL), the Business Federation of Dependency (FED), the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT) and the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV) have joined forces to create the Spanish Health Tourism Cluster.
This cluster was created with the dual objective of positioning Spain as a benchmark in the Health Tourism market and attracting patient flows to our health centers and tourist infrastructures.
According to the FNCP’s market study on health tourism, the total volume of business recorded by the countries receiving health tourists exceeds 7.4 billion dollars. In Spain the market is around 140 million euros although, thanks to the measures proposed in the study, including the creation of this cluster, this figure is expected to grow to 500 million euros.
The study also shows that the quality of the health and care system and the experience in the management of tourist flows, together with the rich cultural offer and the benevolent climate, make Spain a health tourism destination with enormous growth potential. In addition to being attractive for the main European outbound markets, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, it also has the potential to attract travelers from the Nordic and Benelux countries.
During the presentation of the cluster in Madrid, Íñigo Valcaneras, from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and president of the cluster, stressed the importance of cooperation between companies to improve the competitive advantage of the cluster as a whole. “The creation of a cluster contributes to improving the competitiveness of the companies that form it and that of the region in which they are located”. He also stressed that the cluster will be able to design a product that covers the entire value chain of health tourism, “a global and competitive product, specific for each market we are targeting”.
For the Cluster’s president, “two sectors that are at opposite poles recognize today the need to collaborate in order to create an attractive product for international markets. This sets a precedent for what intersectoral collaboration should be in our country”.
Competitive capacity
The tourism sector recognizes the health sector for its “quality and competitive management capacity, its portfolio of services, as well as its legitimate dialogue with the health authorities”. On the other hand, the health sector recognizes the Spanish tourism sector for its “experience in the creation of leading products in the international market, as well as its legitimate dialogue with the tourism authorities”.
Valcaneras emphasized that with the creation of this cluster, “Tourism and Healthcare come together in a pact based on the mutual recognition of the capabilities that each of the components can contribute to the development of a competitive product”. “As a representative of the FNCP and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, I am proud to belong to this project,” he added.
In his speech, the president of ANBAL, Miguel Mirones, highlighted the historical leadership of the Spas in the so-called health tourism, since “these establishments have gathered since the 19th century in their facilities all those tourists who planned their vacations from the point of view of health”, and highlighted the enormous evolution of this market up to the present time, “in which the progress of Medicine allows citizens from all over the world to look for the best technical and economic solutions for the prevention or treatment of different pathologies. And this means that Spain can become a great destination for health tourism in which, while maintaining the Spa’s space, we can incorporate products that require the participation of the prestigious Spanish hospital network and social-health care”.
Mirones also noted that “for the configuration of this product, it was essential to create the cluster that we present today in which the different sectors that should have active participation in the configuration of the product that is finally presented at the international level organize their presence in the same harmoniously, each of the members contributing the expertise of the sector they represent”. Pointing out that “the health sector will provide the technical value of the offer, the tourism sector will provide the marketing experience as a tourist product, and the spas, as a sector that historically participates in the health and tourism sectors, will act as a bridge between two worlds that until now had not acted in a coordinated manner”.
Order and promote the medical offer
For his part, Juan Molas, president of CEHAT, expressed his satisfaction with the creation of this cluster that will serve to “organize and promote the medical offer that undoubtedly makes Spain one of the most internationally recognized healthcare destinations”. For Molas, the aim is to “connect with the thousands of visitors who may be interested in visiting the best healthcare centers. In addition, with the launch of this new specific product, we are expanding our offer, which undoubtedly means added value for the Spanish hotel industry.
The president of the FED, José Alberto Echevarría, stressed “that it is our obligation to explore new avenues of development in a sector that only receives the news of cutbacks. Betting on Health Tourism is betting on the future from the conviction that the dependency sector must grow in different ways and innovating and one of them very interesting for our entrepreneurs is health tourism”.
For Rafael Gallego, president of CEAV, “the Spanish Health Tourism Cluster aims to develop a business field in which collaboration and coordination between experts from the service chain providers is very important, creating a tailor-made tourism that also offers other value-added services to visitors to our country according to their profile and real needs”.
Gallego highlighted data from TURESPAÑA, according to which “in 2012, 21,868 tourists came to Spain attracted by the quality of our healthcare sector or by Spain’s healthy lifestyle. These tourists spent 12.1 million euros, with an average expenditure that multiplies that of a conventional tourist and generally longer stays.” “Although this is a considerable number of tourists, it is clear that this is a segment with significant potential growth.”
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Cluster is composed as follows: President, Íñigo Valcaneras de Roda (FNCP/ Clínica Univ.de Navarra); first vice-president, Miguel Mirones Díez (ANBAL); vice-president Health, José Alberto Echevarría García (FED); vice-president Tourism, Juan Molas (CEHAT); treasurer, Rafael Gallego Nadal (CEAV); members, Juan Bosco Rodríguez Hurtado (FNCP), Luis Miguel López Carral (ANBAL), Valentín Ugalde Drové (CEHAT), Jesús Contreras Luzón (FED) and Mercedes Tejero Alguacil (CEAV); and secretary general, Carlos Rus Palacios (FNCP).
**Published in THE INTERACTIVE DOCTOR
