The number of Americans undergoing tummy tucks in Tijuana has plummeted this year thanks to fears of violence from local cartels and the rising value of the peso against the dollar, according to a new report.
Medical tourism trade in Mexico City has dropped by more than half, industry leaders tell Border Report.
“There is a lot of bad publicity about the city creating a negative perception,” said Ricardo Vega Montiel, president of the College of Plastic Surgeons of Baja California. “The government needs to step up and invest in strategic promotions to generate a better image for the region.”
Montiel told the outlet that typically 3,000 Americans undergo bariatric surgery in Tijuana each month.
That number has now dropped to less than 1,500, he said.
Fears about crime exploded earlier this year when four Americans were kidnapped by cartel members in Mexico in March, and two of them were later found dead.
The group had traveled south of the border so one of them could have a tummy tuck.
The tummy tuck industry in Tijuana has plummeted this year thanks to everything from fears of crime to the falling dollar. fake images
Financial considerations also factor into the business decline, industry leaders said.
The Mexican peso has strengthened against the dollar, giving potential tummy tuck practitioners less incentive to cross the border.
The procedure can cost more than $20,000 in the United States, 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.
Further compounding the problem is the fact that two dozen Tijuana cosmetic procedure clinics are under investigation for possible negligence, business owners told the outlet.
Two people reportedly died from bariatric complications in the border city in July.
Two of the Americans who traveled to Mexico from Texas in the March group to undergo cosmetic surgery also died, although they were killed by traffickers after they were likely mistaken for Haitian drug traffickers.
The price of a tummy tuck in Mexico can be less than half of the more than $20,000 it costs in the United States. fake images
Washington McGee, Eric Williams, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were pulled from their car on March 3 as they headed to a medical clinic in Matamoros.
Woodard and Brown were killed, while McGee and Williams were eventually freed after being held captive.
McGee was the one who sought out the tummy tuck.
About 1 million Americans go to Mexico each year for cheaper medical procedures. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Montiel said Tijuana is being unfairly labeled as unsafe and that he hopes the cosmetic procedures industry recovers.
Tijuana has long been a popular destination for those seeking the weight loss move, with a Facebook group titled “I Left My Stomach in Mexico” boasting more than 20,000 members.
Approximately 1 million Americans undergo some type of medical procedure in Mexico each year.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn