Morocco Aims to Boost Medical Tourism Sector, Tapping into $80 Billion Global Market

Medical tourism is undeniably a strategic sector to develop, particularly in these times of health crisis where, due to high demand, waiting times are very long to access care in Western systems. There is also the search for competitive costs, or the inability of the country of origin to perform certain medical practices or techniques, explains La Vie éco.

Morocco, which has been in the medical tourism business for a decade, is home to several specialized clinics located in Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech and Agadir. Given the demand, new infrastructures dedicated in particular to medical tourism are expected, from Europe or Africa. Cosmetic surgery, dental treatments are the most sought after in the medical acts that attract the most tourist patients to Morocco.

This calls for strengthening logistics, in addition to accommodation and catering infrastructure, the pharmaceutical industry and other related industries to ensure a certain independence for the kingdom from third countries. This is a real mine of resources for the kingdom, ranked 31st out of a total of 46 destinations, according to the medical tourism index, a tool for measuring the attractiveness of medical tourism destinations.

For the development of medical tourism, a recent study published by the Moroccan Institute of Strategic Intelligence (IMIS) recommends the creation of a medical tourism office, with as assets, the strengthening of qualified human resources and that of care infrastructures, the geographical location and the climate of the Kingdom, the cost structure of medical care, the reputation of Moroccan doctors in certain disciplines.