The Minister for Presidency, Economy and Enterprise, and president of Actua, Jordi Gallardo, the Tourism Minister, Verònica Canals, the Director of Actua Business, Judit Hidalgo, and the president of the board forAndorra Health Destination (AHD), Joan Muro, presented on Tuesday January 12th, the AHD promoted by Actua Empresa with the support of Andorra Tourism at the Innovation Space in Andorra.
Gallardo explained that Andorra Health Destination “is a public-private project so as to jointly promote Andorra as a Health tourism destination for companies in the sector ready to receive clients from abroad and able to offer an experience of the highest quality”. In this sense, the minister stated that “it is a new initiative looking to strengthen one of the main priority sectors within the country´s economic diversification strategy”, and highlighted “it was created with the aim of working on the Health offer in Andorra to design a tourism product in line with the global growing demand in the Health sector”. When beginning work on this project, Actua Business analyzed the current Health offer in Andorra and existing specialties. We noticed that the country had an important offer both in Medical fields and the thermal and wellness ones. Later identifying companies specialized in sportive and regenerative medicines, ophthalmology, dermatology, plastic surgery, odontology… as well as in thermal therapies, holistic therapies, rehabilitation and nutrition. A further aim is to improve their potential by preparing them to align with the latest International standards. So far 13 of the country´s companies are taking part.
Furthermore, the Tourism minister, Verònica Canals, informed that prior to the pandemic “34% of our visitors, in other words, 2,7 million of them, arrived in the country attracted by wellness services. And on average spent 3 days enjoying this offer”. Canals also remarked that Health tourism generated 1.019 billion USD in 2019, according to data registered and estimated by the Global Wellness Tourism Market Report, and an annual growth of 7 % is predicted until 2025, when the amount is expected to surpass 1.400 billion USD.
“We want to take advantage of this trend and the diverse high-quality offer provided by que our companies to attract this type of tourism. For this reason, we have given support to this initiative by Actua Business, and we are sure it will give its fruits as soon as the pandemic conditions allow for more mobility on a European and global level”, the minister added.
During the presentation the Director of Actua Business, Judit Hidalgo, also intervened giving a demonstration of the opportunities offered on the Andorra Health Destination online platform. The president of the board for AHD, Joan Muro, closed the act by explaining the requirements to be a member of the Health tourism club and by listing the already existing members.
