The number of Americans landing in Tijuana has declined this year amid fears of local cartel violence and the peso’s appreciation against the dollar, a new report says.
The medical tourism trade in cities in Mexico has dropped by more than half, according to industry leaders to Border Reports.
“There is a lot of bad publicity about the city that creates a negative perception,” said Ricardo Vega Montiel, president of the Baja College of Plastic Surgeons. “The government needs to step up and invest in strategic promotion to generate a better image for the region.”
Montiel told the outlet that 3,000 Americans typically get bariatric surgery in Tijuana each month.
That number has now declined to less than 1,500, he said.
Crime concerns exploded earlier this year when four Americans were kidnapped by cartel members in Mexico in March, with two later found dead.
The group had gone south of the border so one of them could get a belly.
Tijuana’s stomach industry has slumped this year thanks to everything from crime concerns to the falling dollar. Getty Images
Financial considerations also played a role in the decline in business, industry leaders said.
The Mexican peso has strengthened against the dollar, giving potential less incentive to cross the border.
The procedure can cost more than $20,000 in America – and is known to cost less than half that in Mexico.
The downward trend in Tijuana’s medical business is also negatively impacting local hotels, restaurants and commercial areas, business leaders said.
Compounding the issue is the fact that two dozen Tijuana cosmetic procedure clinics are being investigated for possible malpractice, the businessman told the outlet.
Two people died of bariatric complications in the border town in July, according to reports.
Two of the Americans who traveled to Mexico from Texas in the March group for cosmetic surgery also died, although they were killed by traffickers after possibly being mistaken for Haitian drug traffickers.
The price of a tummy tuck in Mexico can be less than half of the $20,000-plus it costs in the US. Getty Images
Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were snatched from their car on March 3 on their way to a medical clinic in Matamoros.
Woodard and Brown were both killed, while McGee and Williams were eventually released after being arrested.
McGee is the one looking for stomach surgery.
About 1 million Americans travel to Mexico for cheaper medical procedures each year. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Montiel said Tijuana was unfairly pegged as unsafe and he expects the cosmetic procedure industry to recover.
Tijuana has long been a popular destination for those looking for a measure of weight loss — with a Facebook group titled “I Left My Belly in Mexico” boasting more than 20,000 members.
About 1 million Americans have some type of medical procedure in Mexico each year.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
