Asianjournal.com, November 27th, 2006
RP Trains Its Sights on Medical Tourism
MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led officials in opening the first-ever Philippine Medical Tourism Congress, Expo and Grand Launch at the Philippine International Convention Center on November 20 and 21, 2006.
The event effectively launched the Philippines as the next premiere health holiday destination, as key public officials led a consortium of both public organizations and private businesses in learning more about what is considered as one of the sunshine industries in the Philippines.
President Arroyo, in her message to the congress delegates, lauded the cooperative efforts between the Department of Tourism and the Department of Health to bring together professionals and experts in the field to discuss relevant information on market opportunities.
The Philippines intends to promote its world-class health facilities and services as it plans to become more aggressive in running after more tourists who would like to consider having health holidays in the country.
"This puts us in direct competition with other nations who actually learned a lot from us in the field of medical tourism," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in his speech.
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