Costa del Sol to cash in on health tourism – sun, sand and scalpels…

With health tourism reportedly generating €70,000 million a year worldwide – and that’s during a bottomless pit of a recession too – you can hardly blame the Costa del Sol for wanting to join the club. Especially where sustainable growth forecasts of more than 30 per cent are concerned, putting estimates of the Costa del Sol’s potential share of a highly lucrative market at somewhere between €250m and €300m per annum!

And since it’s reckoned that the average health tourist spends €10,000 during their stay, it’s easy to see how quickly the big bucks can mount up.

Of course, the Costa del Sol has long had more than its fair share of world-renowned private clinics and hospitals – not to mention all the prestigious surgeons, doctors and other experienced health professionals to go with them – and it’s not as if the region hasn’t dipped its toe in the waters of health tourism before….

The renowned Xanit International Hospital, Benalmádena

But this time it’s different, and that’s where the ‘Tourism & Health Spain’ project comes in. Announced yesterday in Spanish daily Diario Sur, the ambitious scheme is backed by Málaga University, Agencia Idea and Turismo Andaluz. Some 30 companies from both the private and public sectors have already signed up to the initiative, including Benalmádena’s Xanit International Hospital, Marbella’s Ochoa Clinic, the Santa Elena Clinic in Torremolinos and various specialist hospitals in Málaga. Participating luxury hotels so far include the Villa Padierna (Benahavís and Carratraca), Vincci (Marbella) and the El Fuerte chain.

To get the project off the ground the sum of €700,000 has already been raised. Deloitte will be in charge of putting together the business plan, while as part of its Tourism Faculty, Málaga University is to create a new department of tourism, health and wellbeing.  It’s envisaged that ‘Tourism & Health Spain’ will have 6,500 professionals to begin with, a number which will eventually increase three times over as more companies from the fields of health, hospitality and leisure join the scheme.

“We’re sitting on an untapped goldmine and we don’t even realise it,” says founder Miguel Such. “