AMID the global financial crisis that has affected the travel market, the Cebu Health and Wellness Council (CHWC) remains upbeat about Cebu’s potential in medical tourism.

The group is seeing an increasing number of medical travelers in the province—foreigners and balikbayans who are attracted to the “value-for-money” packages developed by the CHWC.

"The Manny Pacquiao Blog". Click here for stories and updates on the Filipino boxing champ.

These packages, said CHWC president Oscar Tuason, include a combination of medical check-ups and leisure—two services that Cebu can readily offer.

One of the popular packages is for seven days and six nights in Cebu. It includes a two-night stay in a reputable hotel in Cebu City where the traveler undergoes medical and dental check-ups, and experience spa service. The package also includes heritage, cultural and shopping tours.

“The client will also spend the last three nights in a hotel-resort in Mactan where he or she will enjoy the sun, the sand and the sea,” said Tuason, also Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital (CDUH) administrator.

CHWC is a private-public sector coalition of stakeholders in the hospital industry, those that provide dental services, spas,
travel and tour operators, the Department of Health, Department of Tourism (DOT) and Department of Trade and Industry.

The group aims to direct the development and promotion of the health and wellness industry in Cebu.

Packages

Tuason said CHWC can “tailor-make” packages to meet client requirements, like in the case of 35 to 45 Koreans who want to come to Cebu for a vacation and take the time during the trip to undergo an executive check-up.

CHWC also monitors the growing influx of medical travelers to Cebu.

Tuason cited CDUH, which now accommodates more than 40 medical travelers a month since January. In the last quarter of 2008, it recorded an average of 30 medical travelers monthly.

He said that apart from attractive travel packages, more medical travelers want to come to Cebu since the pro-vince’s closest competitors—Thailand and India—are having political problems.

Recently, CHWC and the DOT hosted a tour of the facilities of CDUH, Perpetual Succour Hospital and Chong Hua Hospital for 53 buyers coming from Russia, South and North America, and Asia.

“We have been getting return calls from these buyers who are organizing potential medical travelers to come here. For this year, we are upbeat about the utilization of medical and tourism facilities in Cebu by foreign clients (coming from our buyers’ countries),” said Tuason.