A tourism boom through cosmetic surgery?

Secretary Ace Durano is dead serious about fulfilling his mission of dramatically increasing the tourist influx, set at some five million tourists by 2010, according to some reports. This is a tall order, given the stiff competition we are facing from more seasoned players in the region. I’m sure most of you have seen the ads selling Malaysia as a destination. These are strategically placed, and CNN watchers will often see this beguiling ad, so professionally done, so inviting that you would want to make Malaysia your next travel destination. I have often wondered in the past why it took us so long to have our version of this ad, and why we don’t see them in CNN or other such networks. The recent ad I saw selling the Philippines to local tourists, I feel, is too parochial. We need a more visually powerful marketing tool that sells what travelers want to see in an exotic land, not what we as Filipinos know and enjoy as characteristically native but which may not be appealing to foreigners.

The mission is doubly daunting because of the limited funds that the good Secretary has at his disposal. But the dynamic and youthful Mr. Durano is making waves, slowly but surely in this field, perhaps because he realizes that our full potential as a major tourist destination in these parts has yet to be tapped.

A timely expo was held recently, and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The 1st Philippine Medical Tourism Congress/Expo at the Philippine International Convention Center was conceptualized to bring together two powerhouse industries, tourism and health care, meld them together to create a niche for the Philippines as the next medical tourism haven in Asia. It is the first expo of its kind, and we’re about a decade late in the region. Still, it is a worthy endeavor, one that has finally seen fruition, at least in the planning and directions/goals that they have set.

Medical tourism is a cash-rich industry. In Asia alone, studies have shown that some $390 billion are spent annually for healthcare. Most of this, I guess, finds its way into Thailand, India and Singapore, countries which currently lead the way in this field. Can you imagine if we just bite off a 10-percent chunk of this total budget? And that is just for medical tourism, not including the plain pleasure seekers, the bargain hunters, and the sightseers.

Medical tourism embraces a wide umbrella of related fields, from hotels and resorts to hospitals and clinics, from spas and alternative medicine to travel agencies. There is also the pharmaceutical industry at the periphery, and the health care professionals at the very core of the medical tourism efforts in the country. Clearly, it is not only the hospitals and clinics and the medical practitioners that benefit from this endeavor. There are crucial business alliances that go into the set-up. These tourists/patients have to engage the services of travel agents to plan out their travel and stay, and these travel agents need to be knowledgeable in this field as well. If we are hell bent on promoting the country as the next medical tourism haven in Asia, we need the right infrastructure support for this. These patients need to check into comfortable hotels, and if they are going to spend considerably for health care, I suppose they would also require at least four-star amenities for accommodation. While we do have excellent five-star hotels in the country, we may not have enough rooms when the boom comes. As the figures go, we only have 25 percent of what Bangkok offers in suitable accommodations.

When the patients recuperate from the medical procedures that they came for, they must have alternative accommodations, like out-of-town resorts, for instance. These can offer relaxing ambience, great sights and excellent healthy cuisine. I was shocked to find out that in Johannesburg, South Africa, they offer a full package of cosmetic enhancement procedures for a staggering $20,000. Termed "The Wild Thing", the whole "expedition" is a 12-day surgical and safari adventure. On the first day, the patient can have a nose and eyelid job, then a full face lift. The patient then gets to recuperate in the hospital for two nights, after which he is relocated to a five-star hotel for full rest for 10 days. Fully rested now, the patient turns into a tourist, gets aboard a Land Rover and sets out on a Safari adventure in the wild and exciting land of Africa. All that for $20,000, or a cool million to you and me.

If that patient only knew what that cosmetic surgery package would cost him/her in the Philippines. We may not have the added excitement of a safari to cap this 12-day adventure, but our beaches and caves and other natural wonders could very well make up for it. And we certainly have comparable hospital facilities, excellent cosmetic surgeons and health-care support staff, and incomparable resorts for the rest and recreation part, after the recuperation. A noted surgeon and personal friend, Dr. Jim Sanchez is a well-respected and acknowledged leader in the cosmetic enhancement field. Long before the trend was even conceptualized to attract medical tourists to the Philippines, Dr. Jim has enhanced the faces and bodies of dissatisfied women from all over. And from Dr. Jim, I got a realistic range of the costs of all these surgical procedures from the leading cosmetic surgeons in the country.

This is going to be a two-part series on medical tourism in the Philippines. Next week, more on this topic. We will have comparable figures from the leaders in the region, India, Thailand, Toronto, and Singapore. Watch out for it.

Richest Texas hold’em tournament

The Grand Finals of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) Million- Peso Hold’em Philippine Championship slated on December 16-17 at the Casino Filipino Pavilion-Manila promises to be the biggest yet. Today, there will be simultaneous satellites at the Casino Filipino Davao and Casino Filipino Tagaytay. Who are the lucky satellite winners from Davao and Tagaytay who earn seats in the Grand Finals? Abangan. With their victories, one of them could even emerge the Champion in the Grand Finals. Who knows? With some P3 million in prizes at stake, the contenders have a lot to look forward to.

Business & lifestyle offerings

This Tuesday at 10 o’clock in the evening on Channel 13 for Sky and Home Cable TV subscribers and Channel 9 for those who are with Destiny, businessmen and those who are lovers of the good life will again have their weekly dose informative and interesting viewing via Business & Leisure, the TV counterpart of this column.

To help me out in the hosting chores in the show would be our very pretty Sunshine Girl and leisure hostess Gelli Victor who’ll have exciting Whippets on spotlight on the segment Pets & Friends and the sport of Bowling on center stage on the portion Quest.

Iíll have Phil. Confederation of Exporters president Sergio Ortiz-Luis sharing his insights on Biz Watch regarding the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement while the persona behind the name of the popular political figure in Parañaque City, the Honorable Mayor Jun Bernabe shall be bared on the segment Profiles.

As always, it’ll be a full hour of informative, interesting and wholesome viewing that awaits you on the TV show Business & Leisure. So, don’t fail to watch.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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