The Algarve should be the national pilot region in product definition and international promotion of Health and Wellness Tourism. This was the basic idea defended yesterday, in Portimão, by the luxury panel of guests for the get-together on the theme, promoted by Teia d'Impulsos association.
Health and Wellness Tourism will be, precisely, one of the central themes of the three-day visit that Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State for Tourism, will make to the Algarve next week. It will even motivate a specific meeting with entrepreneurs, researchers, hoteliers, responsible for hospitals, mayors and others players on Tuesday afternoon.
Desidério Silva, president of the Algarve Regional Tourism Authority, João Bacalhau, chairman of the board of directors of Grupo Hospital Particular do Algarve, João Viegas Fernandes, president of the Portuguese Association for Health and Welfare Tourism, Luís Carito, vice-president of Portimão City Council, and Elidérico Viegas, president of the Association of Hotels and Touristic Enterprises of the Algarve, were invited to a gathering that filled the room of Casa Manuel Teixeira Gomes and lasted for three hours, with the theme “Health Tourism – An alternative to seasonality or an unexplored strategic business?”
João Bacalhau, chairman of the board of directors of Grupo Hospital Particular do Algarve, began by stressing that the Algarve has «climate conditions, landscape and a welcoming environment» to be able to develop such Health Tourism, even in its most specialized aspect, that of Medical Tourism, for which there are already hospital structures.
But something fundamental is missing: customers. “For this to be a relevant sector, there is a lot to be done. Firstly, wanting this to happen and acting accordingly». And for that, Portugal must free itself “from a web of bureaucracy”. But it is also necessary "to get people from abroad," added the businessman.
João Bacalhau added that Health Tourism is a sector that currently earns, worldwide, «100 billion euros» and that «increases every year between 10 and 20%. But we are far behind».
Desidério Silva, president of Turismo do Algarve, defended: «we have the obligation to lead health tourism at the national level». «We all have to get together, there is work in partnership to be done», but «we are already behind in relation to the promotion and valorization of Health Tourism».
João Viegas Fernandes, president of the Portuguese Association for Health and Welfare Tourism, stressed that «no one thinks that Health Tourism will be the panacea for all the ills that tourism suffers or to solve the country's economic situation. But it can and should be a help».
An idea shared by Elidérico Viegas, president of AHETA, for whom this is a «market niche that constitutes a business opportunity that can be a complement, may help to mitigate some of the weaknesses of the Algarve's tourism, the biggest of which is the seasonality'.
“It is a market niche that in Europe is growing rapidly, but in which we have been a little on the sidelines. We have the ingredients, but we have to know how to cook them», stressed the leader of the Algarve hoteliers.
And this is a cooking that has to be done as soon as possible. In the opinion of Viegas Fernandes, «The Algarve has to move forward now! The Algarve should be a national pilot region' with regard to this cluster.
Desidério Silva revealed that “with the previous secretary of state this had already been discussed, but we were told that all regions would have to move forward at the same time. Now the current Secretary of State comes to the Algarve for three days and spends an afternoon talking about Health Tourism». And what have you been told by ERTA? That «the Algarve has all the conditions to lead» this market segment. «We have transport, we have an airport two hours from the main cities in Europe, we have hospitals, we have security, we have climate, we have scenery and hospitality, we have all the conditions! The product is referred to as important, let's hope now that Tuesday's conversation with the Secretary of State can leverage the Government to invest in this process».
Viegas Fernandes would reinforce: «Health Tourism is a national reality, but not all regions are able to leave now. The Algarve does not harm the other regions by going first».
International promotion and less bureaucracy
If Portugal, in general, and the Algarve, in particular, are late, who is ahead? Luís Carito, deputy mayor of Portimão, referred to Turkey that it is already "the second medical tourism destination in the world". "But for this, the Turkish government spent many millions and campaigned very strongly around the world." And, underlined Carito, “medical tourism is where a large slice of this unexplored strategic business is located. But here the climate is not enough, the sun is not enough. It is necessary to invest, namely in a good promotional campaign abroad. And that's not the Algarve that can do, it's the Government».
Luís Carito even praised the current Government, because «for the first time there is a well-defined Health Tourism policy. But now it is necessary to implement it. And this can only be achieved with strong international promotion and incentives», namely to attract highly qualified health professionals who guarantee «credibility» to the offer.
As things stand, «if we are going to promote abroad with only our resources from the Algarve, we can only tickle Medical Tourism. But there has to be a strong campaign and a national strategy», he stressed.
In this regard, João Bacalhau recalled his recent visit to an international conference on Health Tourism in Monaco. “We paid everything to go there: transport, accommodation, brochures, everything. But there were companies from Poland, to whom the Polish government paid everything». And that's a big difference.
«The Algarve has the 5th largest hospital group in the country [Hospital Particular do Algarve], which earns 50% from the foreign market. And when we earn more, it is in winter, not in summer», added the doctor and businessman, proving the potential of Health Tourism in the region.
«We could earn much more if the Portuguese bureaucracy was equal to the Turkish one». In this regard, he recalled a situation in which his group hospitals could have received 130 Libyans, but for which it was not possible, in good time, to obtain visas. And this group ended up going to Germany, where the same Schengen rules are supposed to have been in force that prevented Portugal from granting visas to the citizens of that Arab country...
João Bacalhau also revealed the investments that have been made in his group's units for these special customers. “We have an Oncology Unit. There are many people who come to the Algarve, with their families, and find out if they can have their weekly treatment in the Algarve. And can. The Private Hospital does. One of the people treated here was the richest man in Saudi Arabia, who was here for a month in the Algarve».
Luís Carito also recalled another opportunity that the Algarve can take advantage of, if it knows how to organize and promote itself internationally. "This year, a Community Directive comes into force that advocates the free movement of people so that they can be treated in any country of the European Union, with the treatment paid by their country of origin."
But in order to take advantage of this, it is necessary to carry out «international accreditation» of health units (a process where private hospitals are much more advanced than public ones), and, in the case of the Algarve, «it implies that the region is self-sufficient in all areas of medicine, which passes through the so-called Central Hospital that the Algarve does not yet have». But it is, underlined Carito, "a brutal market potential!"
It is necessary to forget that, after a patient who comes to the Algarve for treatment, there is always the family, at least one companion.
blur seasonality
Health Tourism may not be the cure for the ills of Algarve tourism, but it has the potential to be a good help.
Elidérico Viegas, manager of the Algarve hoteliers, pointed out that «the market segment of Health and Well-Being Tourism is similar to Golf, it can contribute to reducing seasonality». He stressed that golf, despite being very important, «is only responsible for 5% of hotel occupancy in the region».
Viegas Fernandes would add: "it's not betting on this or that, it's betting on this and that, it's betting on traditional tourist markets and emerging markets, it's betting on the different market segments", in Health and Wellness Tourism, but also in nature , sports, cultural, business, gastronomic, among others, as highlighted by Desidério Silva, president of the Algarve Tourism Board.
But after all, if we have all the ingredients, why isn't the Algarve already a Health and Wellness Tourism destination?
According to Elidérico Viegas, it is necessary to «create a product logic, associated with a commercial and promotional logic to sell the product in an integrated manner, which is what we have not achieved until today».
João Bacalhau stresses that “our product is not cheap, we cannot sell it cheap, but we can sell the quality we have. The customer takes into account value, which does not mean price».
Viegas Fernandes, on the other hand, says that the Algarve cannot compete with the giants of Medical Tourism, such as Turkey and India. «But you can compete and win with an integrated product: if you sell spas, thalasso, spas, hospitals, with beaches, gastronomy, everything. It is in this integrated product that no one beats us. Hence the importance of all of us learning to work with each other».
“We leave late, so we have to walk faster than the others, but with safe steps. Once and for all, it is necessary that we do not just stop with words, but that there is action, that is, that there is promotion and dissemination», said the president of AHETA.
On Tuesday, during the meeting with Secretary of State Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, it will be known whether or not the Government has plans – and conditions – to move from words to actions.
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