Malta Gears Up for Medical Travel
Malta is one of the world’s oldest medical travel destinations. Its connection with medicine dates back nearly 1,000 years to the days of the Knights Hospitallers, also known as the Knights of Malta, an order formed to look after the sick that built hospitals along the route from Europe to the Holy Land. Now, Malta plans to promote itself as a 21st-century medical travel destination, the Malta Tourism Authority announced.
The Mediterranean country will focus on the services provided by the private hospitals and clinics operating on the island, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco said at the recent Malta Medical Tourism Summit. Other health services will also be promoted as Malta’s medical travel business grows, he added.
The Malta Tourism Authority has made the decision that non-medical aspects of health tourism such as wellness and spa pertain more to mainstream leisure tourism than to the specialized field targeted by medical tourism, and thus they will not be included in its medical travel marketing programs. However, de Marco said, this definition does not exclude the use of wellness and spa treatment as part of a wider medical package, of course.
Main Medical Strengths
Malta’s main medical strengths, already being adequately covered by its private healthcare institutions, include the areas of cosmetic surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmic, neurology, urology, oncology, diagnostic, bariatric, and cardiac.
Malta will target numerous sending markets for medical tourism, according to de Marco, and focus on those with the highest potential: the United Kingdom, the European Union, North Africa (specifically Libya and Egypt), the Middle East (subject to a thorough understanding of market dynamics applying in the region), Russia and North America. Efforts, he said, should be made to establish contact with Britain’s NHS to investigate the possibility of establishing a program to send British patients to Malta.
De Marco said that a successful approach to medical tourism requires that the health and tourism sectors worked together.
Medical tourism, he said, revolves around an individual’s health and well-being, and these should be foremost in the development, growth and expansion of this sector. “Here, more than in any other segment, it is important to underscore the fact that the successful outcome of a marketing plan is very heavily dependent on the quality of the product or service being marketed,” de Marco told the Malta conference. “When it comes to the health of a medical tourist, there is absolutely no leeway for bad experiences to take place,” he stated.
De Marco pointed out that a hospital stay is usually followed by convalescence, which requires accommodations involving the hospitality sector, and added the fact that medical travelers are often accompanied by family or friends.
Malta’s Charms
He went on to say that medical travel can enhance the image of a travel destination, with the result being that the destination is perceived as more sophisticated and modern. Noting Malta’s history since the time of the Knights Hospitallers, De Marco explained that the country has one of the longest-standing medical schools in Europe. Most Maltese professionals are specialists and have trained and practiced in the United Kingdom.
What Malta also has to offer is its central convenient location, a favorable climate, rich culture and history, excellent financial services, a stable political climate, strong ties with neighboring countries, and a professional staff. The Tourism Authority sees these as among the additional attractions and advantages for Malta as a medical travel destination.
