Health tourism is on the decline in Baja California thus far this year, with industry representatives saying the slump is partly due to economic tension between Mexico and the United States.

In 2024, the northern border state received 3.5 million foreign visitors seeking medical or dental care. Local hotels often advertise travel packages and special rates for medical tourists who contributed roughly US $2 billion to Baja California’s economy, according to Fox News.

Clinics in the state of Baja California, just south of the U.S. border, are popular with medical travelers from the U.S. and Canada. Medical centers in Baja that feature health services certified by the Joint Commission International and Mexican authorities can be found via the Medical Tourism Mexico website.

Medical Health Cluster, a health consultant firm based in Tijuana, reported a 20% to 40% drop in surgery patients arriving in Baja California through the first three months of the year.

“We have seen a certain decrease in the United States from last year,” Abraham Sánchez, president of the Medical Health Cluster, told Telemundo, adding that “the socio-political economic environment has hindered patients from coming.”

Sánchez also conceded that international competition has increased “as countries like Costa Rica, Turkey, Thailand … have very aggressive campaigns to promote services.”

Beyond the friction between the U.S. and Mexican governments, local health sector representatives said problems related to the rule of law have hurt the industry.

Ricardo Vega Montiel, president of the Baja Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery College cited violence in cities such as Tijuana and reports of unlicensed doctors and clinics throughout Baja California as deterrents.

Medical Health Cluster said requests for bariatric surgery — gastric bypass and other weight-loss procedures — have declined since the procedures are now covered by U.S. insurance policies.

According to Medical Tourism Magazine, Mexico can provide equal or even higher quality treatments to patients than what they might find at home, and at a significantly lower cost.

Medical tourists can save from 30% to 80% on procedures ranging from cardiac surgery to orthopedics to plastic surgery, Mauricio Reyes Morales Vázquez, the president of the Los Cabos Association of Medical Tourism, told El Sudcaliforniano newspaper. Los Cabos is located in the state of Baja California Sur.

For example, Reyes said cardiac catheterization can cost more than US $200,000 in the United States, whereas in Los Cabos it costs roughly US $50,000.

Top medical tourism procedures in Baja California include dental, plastic surgery, bariatric surgery and orthopedics. Ophthalmology, neurology and fertility treatments are also popular among health tourists.

With reports from Telemundo, El Sudcaliforniano and Fox News