from staff
Today, Mya Surrency is scheduled to talk about Northeast Florida as a health care destination at a meeting of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Health Council. Surrency was promoted in March to vice president of Tourism Marketing and Development at Visit Jacksonville, the city’s marketing organization. Surrency joined Visit Jacksonville in 2007 as director of product development and research and before then was deputy director for the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau for five years.
What’s the brief definition of medical tourism?
People traveling to the destination from other cities for medical treatment, attending a medical meeting or convention, continuing education and/or working on business-to-business relationships with locally headquartered medical companies.
Do medical “tourists” return as tourists in the traditional sense?
Yes. Many of our meetings and convention attendees will return to visit the area with their families and, oftentimes, medical visitors who have, in a sense, ‘relocated’ their families to the destination during their treatments will return to visit.
It’s understood that some famous and influential people visit Jacksonville’s medical centers. How significant is that?
Every visitor is significant and has a great impact on our community; however, famous and influential individuals seeking treatment in Jacksonville would prove the power and reach of the ‘America’s Health Center’ brand and the world-class health care found in our area hospitals.
What are area medical facilities and Visit Jacksonville doing to boost economic development?
Visit Jacksonville works 365 days a year to boost economic development through tourism. In addition, we are working closely with participating hospitals to develop relocation and recruitment tools to assist with attracting highly qualified talent to work in our hospitals, which will benefit patients and our community.
What percentage of area tourists are actually medical tourists?
We do not have statistics on the medical visitor compared to the general overnight visitor. In 2009, Jacksonville welcomed 2.6 million overnight visitors who had a $1.5 billion economic impact on our city.