Puerto Vallarta
The Night of the Iguana, Predator (1987), Revenge (1990), Limitless (2011), are some of the well-known movies that were filmed in Puerto Vallarta.
This city is one of the leading destinations in the cruise industry in Mexico, thanks to its beaches, landscapes, gastronomy and excellent service to tourists.
According to official data, it is expected during 2022 that 196 cruise ships will arrive in Puerto Vallarta, compared to the 280 that arrived annually before the pandemic. It is estimated the tourism sector will continue to recover during the course of the year.
“It did not take long for foreign tourists to arrive in what today is, by vocation, a tourist port,” says Luis Alberto Michel, Mayor of Puerto Vallarta. Michel describes the people of Vallarta as hard workers who understand tourism because they know the local economy depends on this activity.
Medical tourism is also developing in this city. Dr. Alberto Marrón, medical director of the hospital Vallarta Medical Center, comments: “If there is a need and there is an opportunity to be assisted in Puerto Vallarta, here we offer very good quality health services in general.” The orthopedic specialist assures that Puerto Vallarta has all the infrastructure and the human quality to attend practically any ailment a patient may have.
Six years after its start, Vallarta Medical Center has positioned itself as the leading hospital in medical tourism and the one most recognized by nationals and foreigners. Patients are the ones who reiterate with their good references the quality and warmth of the medical treatment and the professional expertise of the hospital staff.
Vallarta Medical Center offers 28 medical specialties in addition to the most up-to-date medical equipment and adherence to international protocols in hospital safety.
The vision of growth contemplates the integration of new areas that strengthen the options in medical services. Vallarta Medical Center already has a regenerative medicine area, a blood bank is in process, and soon it will be the first and only hospital with nuclear medicine in Puerto Vallarta.
Vallarta Medical Center has a sister hospital in Chapala, Centro Medico Ribera. The latter serves the largest foreign community in the country.
Both hospitals have bilingual staff and French-speaking concierges. The intention is to make patients feel comfortable, cared for and satisfied with their treatment.
“For foreign patients it is more affordable to pay for their treatments at Vallarta Medical Center since in their countries they either have to wait a long time for medical attention or the costs are higher,” points out Dr. Marrón.
For the hospital's directors, true medical tourism means attracting patients from their own countries by offering the option of coming to Puerto Vallarta. For this purpose they have agreements with hotels, restaurants, and even with entertainment companies. The value chains established with these agreements range from the drivers who receive the patients, the doctors who attend them, the hotel rooms adapted to the medical needs of the patients, and the entertainment activities during their visit. All this generates an economic spillover in multiple sectors.