Florida tourism industry reeling from sad year

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Hubbard family, owners of a marina complex and seafood restaurant on Florida’s Gulf coast near Tampa, would just as soon forget that 2010 ever happened.
The lingering economic recession, a record cold Florida winter and the effects of the Gulf oil spill stalled the tourist traffic this year at Madeira Beach, where the Hubbards have been a presence since the 1970s. All that came after the lousy economy landed a gut punch to their businesses in 2009.
“It was incredibly scary, because we didn’t know if we were going to get oil” on nearby beaches, said Kathleen McDole, a Hubbard sister whose Friendly Fisherman restaurant saw a 20-percent decline in business this year. “And neither did the rest of the United States and our visitors who come here. So they didn’t come.”
The family’s struggles this year mirrored those of most of Florida’s tourism industry, which employs around 1 million people and accounts for more than one-fifth of the state’s total sales tax revenue. The year was even more disappointing because people in the industry originally had high hopes for recovery in 2010 after two straight bad years due to the recession.
But then came a rare extended freeze last January, and the BP Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill on April 20. Throughout the spring and summer, would-be visitors changed their plans amid visions of oil fouling the beaches and spoiling their holiday.
Deep discounts and strategic marketing were required to persuade more people to come to Florida, cutting deep into profits. When vacationers got here, they spent less at restaurants and attractions.
“The collective impacts of the economic downturn, and certainly the oil spill, were as significant a challenge as we’ve (ever) had to face,” said Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Visit Florida, the state’s tourism bureau.
The number of visitors to the state — roughly 80 million annually — has stayed flat the past three years, following years of solid growth throughout the decade, according to statistics kept by Visit Florida. But the discounting necessary this past year took an even bigger bite.
“Now they’re running their businesses in a totally different manner,” said Robin Grabowski, president of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce. “They’re doing more with less. When fewer people are coming into the hotel rooms and they’re paying less to get that hotel room, that economic impact is less all around.”
The oil spill — and the widespread impression around the country that all of Florida’s shores were awash in crude — came at a time when tourism officials were seeing signs that the industry was starting to recover from terrible years in 2008 and 2009, Thompson said. In reality, beaches in just six eastern Panhandle counties saw signs of oil — mostly in the form of tar balls and tar patties. Most of it has been cleaned up, although BP-funded crews are still working in some areas.
Laura Lee, spokeswoman for the visitors bureau for Pensacola-area beaches, said hotel and condo revenue was down 5 percent for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 — “which we actually consider a victory.” Area hotels benefited by having BP workers and large contingency of media in town for the summer, but at reduced rates.
Oil started washing ashore in June and killed business in July, the biggest month of the year for the area’s beaches. Revenue numbers for the month were off 25 percent, with visitors paying about 11 percent less than the previous July.
“What we battled most was the public perception,” Lee said. “People saw images of maybe an oiled pelican in Louisiana, and then on the news they were talking about Florida beaches, and people just made the connection that we were the ones hit hard.”
Her agency is using the $2.7 million in reparations from BP for aggressive marketing and promotions that seem to be paying off, she said. After a slow summer, September hotel and condo revenue was up 17 percent from the year before, with visitors playing slightly more per night than in 2009.
No one in the industry is jumping up and down over the prospects for 2011, but it’s expected to be slightly better. The third quarter of 2010 showed an increase in total visitors to the state, and the number of travelers from Latin America and Europe are up by double-digits over last year. Florida theme parks are seeing a slight resurgence thanks in part to the new, wildly successful Harry Potter attraction at Universal Orlando.
“We realize we are in the recovery and restoration stage, and it’s yet to be determined the extent of those two stages,” Thompson said. “The good news is we’re cautiously optimistic. As a result of the tough economic times, we’ve had a lot of pent-up demand out there.”
One bright spot is Miami, which has managed to maintain its luster through the recent hard times, partly because about half its visitors come from overseas. The city is one of few markets in the country where the average daily rate for hotels is actually on the rise, and the Miami International Airport was second only to New York for international arrivals this year. Foreign visitors stay longer and spend more money.
“We’ve been more aggressive in the foreign markets, we’ve added more offices in South American countries, even though — like everybody else — we are doing more with less,” said William Talbert, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Visitors & Convention Bureau.
Another bit of good news: Thompson said Florida is expected to reap benefits from the Tourism Promotion Act, which was passed by Congress in February and created a nonprofit corporation to promote U.S. tourism overseas.
Back in Madeira Beach, there’s a lot on the line in 2011 for the Hubbards and other small-business owners.
“It has to be better,” said Patricia Hubbard, McDole’s sister. “Because if it isn’t, we won’t be here.”

By news.yahoo.com

FILE- This Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010 file photo shows oil cleanup workers as they clean up tar balls on Pensacola Beach, Fla. The lingering economic recession, a record cold Florida winter and the effects of the Gulf oil spill stalled the tourist traffic this year in parts of Florida. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, FILE)

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The fundamental questions of organ transplant tourism

Excellent article. At WorlMed Assist, we couldn’t agree more. The reference to Medical Tourism and Medical tourism companies is made in this article several times and correctly so. Some of these companies engage in the selling of organs. WorldMed Assist specifically does not: we have helped many people obtain organ transplant surgeries, but in all cases the recipient had to provide a family member and the organ donor. To read more about our ethical guidelines, please see: http://www.worldmedassist.com/medical_tourism_guidelines.htm  To read more about one of our past patients, please see: http://www.worldmedassist.com/Liver_Transplant_India_jo_ann.htm
http://www.worldmedassist.com

Organ transplant tourism is not a fad nor a fashion, but a serious 21st century problem for health service providers and governments. In this article I try to identify the basic ethical and political issues.

“The core of the debate is how best to put an end to such abuses.” The abuses Dr Gabriel Danovitch, writing in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, is referring to is the commercialising of organs from live donors. Organ transplant tourism is the common term used to describe people who travel abroad, usually to poor countries, to have organ transplant operations. The organs come from live donors who sell their organs, such as kidneys, not because they act from altruistic motivation, but because they are poor, vulnerable or simply easy to coerce.

Organ transplant tourism is not a fad nor a fashion but the result of two factors. The first is that life saving transplantation of organs is a successful procedure. In the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, December 2007, Dr Yosuke Shimazono writes that in 2005 around a total of 93,000 kidney, liver and heart transplants were carried our globally. The second factor is that this success has also created a problem with the supply side. For example, the NHS website, UK Transplant, illustrates the point with these simple words: “Today more than 9,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant… But less than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.” Shimazono confirms the scale of the problem when he writes, “The shortage of organs is virtually a universal problem.”

The term Organ transplant tourism is itself disputed. In a paid for article by Prof. Leigh Turner, in the June 2008 edition of the British Medical Journal, he objects to the use of the term in both the media and academic circles. But semantics and style apart, Shimazono, in 2007, gives the following definition of the term: ““Transplant tourism” involves not only the purchase and sales of organs, but also other elements relating to the commercialization of organ transplantation.” The Declaration of Istanbul (2008) (pdf) (via Transplantation Society), proposed, in April-May 2008, the following definition, “Travel for transplantation becomes transplant tourism if it involves organ trafficking and/or transplant commercialism or if the resources (organs, professionals, and transplant centres) devoted to providing transplants to patients from outside a country undermine the country’s ability to provide transplant services for its own population.” (see the Declaration itself for a fuller description).

There is a difference between organ transplant tourism and health service providers outsourcing medical services abroad. For example, the British NHS has a programme to outsource certain medical procedures in the rest of Europe. And in the abstract of a paid for paper, Dr K. A Bramstedt et al (Pubmed), in Ethics Corner American Journal of Transplantation (July 2007), write about the various insurance programmes in the US who encourage policy holders to travel abroad. The organ transplant tourism that is repugnant and objectionable is the one that exploits living donors directly, and in many cases the patients.

The circumstances of obtaining organs from live donors and the consequences of organ transplant tourism are the main concerns of international health organisations, such as the WHO, governments, NGOs and professional groups.

Live organ donors are usually people from countries without a regulatory framework to protect donors from, as Shimazono describes the situation, coercion, exploitation and physical harm. Danovitch writes, “Potential living donors who may be educationally, socially or economically vulnerable…” And a Lancet commentary (pdf) (via Transplantation Society) describes live donors as possibly being: illiterate and impoverished individuals, undocumented immigrants, prisoners, and political or economic refugees. But what does this really mean?.

Shimazono, refers to a study were 71% of the Indian donors were below the poverty line. What is more revealing about this study is that from the 305 donors, 71% were female and 96% of all the donors sold a kidney to “pay off” debt.

Ironically, if exploiting live organ donors seems bad, the consequences of organ transplant tourism are much worse. For donors, the list of consequences is nearly endless, the money they might have made from selling an organ would soon disappear. In a study of Egyptian donors, 78% of the group spent their money within five months (Shimazono). But the more serious consequences for donors, are deterioration of health, psychological effects, discrimination, inability to do labour intensive jobs, and lack of follow up health care.

Recipients (organ transplant tourists) of organs from live donors are themselves not immune from consequences of the transplant. Like donors, organ transplant tourists can be the victims of fraud and more seriously sometimes die from the procedure. Dr Michael D. Horowitz et al, writes in Medscape Journal of Medicine, that transplant tourists may also find it difficult to “identify well trained physicians and modern hospitals.”

After an operation abroad, who does the recipient consult should a problem develop? In a Canadian study, Dr Leigh Turner, writing in Canadian Family Physician, 2007, says that family doctors back home might have to deal with the problems. As for the success rate of the procedure Shimazono says that some studies show that results are considerably lower than international standards, while other studies show results “comparable with local results.” Giving specific examples, Shimazono says that there is a, “heightened frequency of medical complications, including the transmission of HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses”

Organ transplant tourism would not be a global medical issue if it did not involve some serious ethical problems. Maybe the most relevant of these problems is the implication organ transplant tourism has on the medical profession itself.

Danovitch describes how the Declaration of Helskinki (1964)(pdf)(Wikipedia) can be applied in the context of the Declaration of Istanbul. For example, responsibility for human subjects should always rest with the medically qualified person even if consent is given by the patient, “consent does not free the physicians from responsibility….” The Lancet commentary is more forceful, “The success of transplantation as a life-saving treatment does not require-nor justify-victimising the world’s poor people as the source of organs for the rich.”

It is not surprising, therefore, that Organ transplant tourism, is a serious concern for the medical profession. Coercion, commercialisation of organs and lack of follow up treatment does not exactly meet the criteria of what an honest medical health carer ought to be associated with. That organ transplant tourists can just pay their way to the front of the queue only confounds the ethical issues.

It would be rather odd to write an article on the theme of tourism, even if we have to stretch the meaning of the word here, and not mention money and countries. For practical reasons, the money aspect is not that relevant because this changes with time. But how does one calculate a market value for an industry that can easily be described as murky? Horowitz, gives some figures, for example, some studies suggest annual revenues from global medical tourism (Wikipedia) (and not just organ transplantation tourism) to be US$60 billion, but other studies dispute this and project a figure of US$40 billion by 2010. Shimazono calculates renal “transplant packages” to range between US$70, 000 to US$160, 000.

Given that Organ Transplantation Tourism depends on poor people giving up their organs it is not difficult to imagine the origin and destination of this trade. David Spurgeon (quoting Professor Daar, Canada: BMJ) identifies the Philippines, Iraq, China, India, South Africa, Turkey and Eastern Europe as destinations for transplant tourists. However, the Lancet commentary reports that the representatives of the Declaration of Istanbul have “played major roles in the promulgation” of laws and regulations affecting transplantation tourism in China, Pakistan and the Philippines. Although the Australian website abc.net.au on 12 August 2008, had a story with the headlines: Australia urged to ban China’s ’transplant tourism’. Shimazono quoting an Organs Watch report, identifies the following major countries as “organ importing countries” (origin of tourists): Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the USA.

The Declaration of Istanbul is a major step forward in curbing organ transplant tourism by apply pressure on the relevant authorities and governments. Some advocate going the commercial route and let market forces decide. Of course, market forces with the right sort of regulations and safeguards.

The Iran model is often quoted as an example of a successful organ transplantation programme for a country where the donor is paid from an official fund. Donors and recipients are managed by this programme with the result that there were no waiting lists. This model is supposed to maintain the equitable nature of organ transplantation and still reward the family of the deceased. Details of the model are described by Ahad J. Ghods et al, in a paper, Iranian Model of Paid and Regulated Living-Unrelated Kidney Donation, published in 2006, in the Clinical Journal American Society of Nephrology.

The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament, (March 2008) have urged the Commission to introduce an European donor cards and regulations to fight organ transplant tourism. Another solution aimed at addressing the shortage of organs is to modify genetically animals to provide the necessary organs. However, Prof. Robert Winston, Imperial College, in 2007 failed to persuade the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK) to start research on modifying pigs. In the same article, the Guardian.co.uk (UK) reported that Prof. Winston moved his research to the USA. Prof Winston was also reported as saying that it was ethical to eat pigs as food, but not ethical to provide us with life saving organs.

No doubt organ transplant tourism is a serious ethical and philosophical issue in bioethics. It is also an issue that cannot be solved by a single lobby or group with vested interests. Nor is organ transplant tourism a problem for the medical profession alone to solve or politicians to fudge. What is clear, however, is that this is a twenty first century problem. But despite the various efforts to deal with this problem the situation is still, to use Shimazono words, “provisional and tentative.”

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Asian medical tourism analysis report issued

Very interesting report a credible source that goes into the current state of medical tourism in Asia such as their potential for the next 4 years. Delhi, India, June 25, 2008 - RNCOS has just released a new market research report titled "Asian medical tourism analysis (2008-2012)" to his report Gallery. The report offers insight into the Asian medical tourism market. Past, present and future potential of the five largest Asian markets - India Thailand Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines - analyze statistics and trends with regard to size of the market tourist arrivals, infrastructure, accreditations, costs and success and risk factors have the report thoroughly and were discussed.

Asia represents the most potential medical tourism market in the world.In 2007 the region generates revenue worth US$ 3.4 billion, nearly 12.7% of the global market entfallen.Der report draw the fact that the ageing of population in the developed world, growing fast, put an additional demand on already overburdened health infrastructure, which tremendous opportunities in the Asian medical tourism market.

The report recognizes to valuable information for clients, searching the fact that covered enormous differences in costs, infrastructure, human resources, patient perceptions, skills and level of State Unterstützung.So, it contains the five Asian markets cars in these markets and will help you develop strategies while he investment/partnering in these markets.

For this report, the Asian medical tourism market was defined as the sum of the medical tourism markets in Thailand Singapore India, Malaysia, the Philippines.

Key findings

More than 2.9 million patients visited Thailand India Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines for medical tourism in 2007.

-Thailand's low cost and picturesque beaches there have enabled the largest medical tourism market in Asia; however, an unstable political environment and occurrence of other epidemic like avian flu may withhold its growth.

Health costs are significantly high in Singapore compared to other destinations in Asien.Das country, however, has an infrastructure and resources that are even better in some cases than those in the West.
-India, provides with its low-cost advantage and the emergence of several private players, a major obstacle to growth are the fastest growing market. questionable sanitary perceptions of the country in the West.

-Malaysia and Philippines, both relatively new player in the medical tourism market will grow strongly expected over the next five years.

-Some employers and health insurance companies in developed countries have now started look at medical tourism to reduce your surging health expenditure.

-The Asian medical tourism market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% between 2007 and 2012.

Analyzed key issues & facts

Evaluation of past, present and future market trends.
Market study segment and country.
Discussion about the key drivers of the Asian medical tourism market.
Analysis of the opportunities presented by the market.
Analysis of the most important challenges of the market.
-Competitive landscape of the market.

Analyzed key players

This section contains the overview and facts of prominent players in the Asian medical tourism markets, such as Apollo, Bumrungrad, raffles, Parkway health and St. Luke's Medical Center.

Research methodology used

Sources of information
Information from related books, newspapers, journals and white papers, industry portals, government agencies, associations, monitoring, industry news and developments, and paid through access to more than 3,000 databases.

Analysis methods
The analysis methods include analysis, historical trend analysis and linear regression analysis software tools, judgmental forecasts and analysis of cause and effect relationship.

About RNCOS:

RNCOS, recorded in 2002, is an industry Marktforschungsunternehmen.Es has a team of industry experts, the analysis of data from credible sources zusammengestellt.Sie offer industry insight and analysis, the company timely and accurate business decision in today's global competitive environment to meet.

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Washington Post on medical tourism

Please below, that just in the Washington Post came out see article. Our medical tourism process supports what in this article, and then some is recommended. Unfortunately the statement by Assistant Professor bridges is also true: there are a lot of vultures out there. This makes the greater the need for an Ethical medical tourism companies. It is a necessity, medical tourism companies to accredit something we used since the early days of the industry.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008; page HE05

Prospective medical tourists should first zero in on a surgeon, find out if the doctor started practicing where went to school and has how many operations you performed Jonathan is said should be President of the medical tourism Association.They for recommendations, so that you can talk to other American patients, doctor used questions. Only a prospective patient to a hospital should decide Ortega said.

Next step?If the doctor has any complaints or sanctions or medical malpractice committed spam.messages most, if you work hard, be robust to business to keep you tell requests the hospital, he added.

Unfortunately find good surgeons is primarily a matter hit the Internet poking around and overseas calls.Ortega says it is, why his organization is a portal where potential patients can go online and research overseas doctors, building.

Once you have chosen a surgeon, it is an accredited time on the hospital to graben.Ist it? if so, what body? how strict thats body?Karen Timmons, President of the Joint Commission International accredited hospitals 147 overseas, said that if you have never heard of the body, the accredited check the hospital, to see if this post from the international society for quality in health care has accredited.

Another option for prospective patients is a moderator, a small company that offers the hand by a medical tourism experience of help, select a hospital to booking a flight to keep.

Renee-Marie Stephano, Chief Operating Officer and general counsel for the medical tourism association, said, it is advantageous, such an agent on your page to have when things go bad.

John f. bridges, Assistant Professor of health economics at the Johns Hopkins School of public health, disagree.

"" Very, very careful, because there are a whole bunch of vultures on the Internet trying fraud ", he warned.""If you are interested in for overseas [health care], you deal with hospitals directly."

Ortega that says, if you are using an intermediary would you should find the company in business, was how long if it someone with medical staff credentials and if it has a relationship with the hospital a plus would be finally he said you should pay always the hospital directly.

The American Medical Association recently adopted guiding principles on medical tourism, aiming, to facilitate employers, insurance companies and other parties, the medical care abroad.http://You can be seen on www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/31/medicaltourism.pdf.

-Suz Redfern

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Bihar Tourism has planned to develop Nalanda based on Bodh Gaya as a Tourist Hub.

ArchivesMay 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010January 2010November 2009September 2009August 2009July 2009June 2009May 2009Sites I found useful You are here: Home > Destination, Tourist Information > Posted in Destination, Tourist Information

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Nepal Tourism Year-2011 focuses in Indian tourists.

Bihar Tourism has planned to develop Nalanda based on Bodh Gaya as a Tourist Hub. ArchivesMay 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010January 2010November 2009September 2009August 2009July 2009June 2009May 2009Sites I found useful You are here: Home > Destination, Tourist Information > Bihar Tourism has planned to develop Nalanda based on Bodh Gaya as a Tourist Hub. Posted in Destination, Tourist Information

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Asian Medical Tourism Analysis Report issued

25Jun2008Filed under: Medical Tourism InformationAuthor: Admin Very interesting report from a credible source that goes into the current state of medical tourism in Asia as well as its potential for the next 4 years. 

Delhi, India, June 25, 2008 —RNCOS has recently added a new Market Research Report titled, “Asian Medical Tourism Analysis (2008-2012)

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Washington Post on Medical Tourism

8Jul2008Filed under: Medical Tourism Blog, Medical Tourism InformationAuthor: Admin

Please see article below that just came out in the Washington Post. Our Medical Tourism process supports what is recommended in this article, and then some. Unfortunately the statement made by assistant professor Bridges is also true: there are a lot of vultures out there. That makes the need for an ethical medical tourism company all the greater. There is a need to accredit medical tourism companies, something we have been advocating since the early days of the industry.

  Doing Your Homework

Tuesday, July 8, 2008; Page HE05

Prospective medical tourists should first zero in on a surgeon, finding out when the doctor started practicing, where she went to school and how many surgeries she has performed, said Jonathan Edelheit, president of the Medical Tourism Association.

They should also ask for referrals so they can talk to other American patients who have used that doctor. Only then should a prospective patient decide on a hospital, Edelheit said.

 

Next move? Ask the hospital if the doctor has had any complaints or sanctions, or has committed medical malpractice. Most, if they’re working hard to keep business robust, will tell you, he added.

Unfortunately, finding good surgeons is mostly a matter of hit-or-miss poking around on the Internet and making overseas calls. Edelheit says that’s why his organization is building a portal where prospective patients can go online and research overseas doctors.

Once you’ve chosen a surgeon, it’s time to dig in on the hospital. Is it accredited? If so, by what body? How stringent is that body? Karen Timmons, president of the Joint Commission International, which accredits 147 overseas hospitals, said that if you’ve never heard of the body that accredits the hospital, check to see if that body has been accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

Another option for prospective patients is a facilitator, a small firm that offers to hold one’s hand through a medical tourism experience, from helping choose a hospital to booking a flight.

Renee-Marie Stephano, chief operating officer and general counsel for the Medical Tourism Association, said it’s beneficial to have such a facilitator on your side if things go badly.

John F.P. Bridges, an assistant professor of health economics at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, disagrees.

“Be very, very careful, because there’s a whole heap of vultures on the Internet trying to scam,” he warned. “If you are interested in going overseas

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The basic issues of Organ Transplant Tourism

1Sep2008Filed under: ArticlesAuthor: Admin

Excellent article. At WorlMed Assist, we couldn’t agree more. The reference to Medical Tourism and Medical tourism companies is made in this article several times and correctly so. Some of these companies engage in the selling of organs. WorldMed Assist specifically does not: we have helped many people obtain organ transplant surgeries, but in all cases the recipient had to provide a family member and the organ donor. To read more about our ethical guidelines, please see: http://www.worldmedassist.com/medical_tourism_guidelines.htm  To read more about one of our past patients, please see: http://www.worldmedassist.com/Liver_Transplant_India_jo_ann.htm
http://www.worldmedassist.com

Organ transplant tourism is not a fad nor a fashion, but a serious 21st century problem for health service providers and governments. In this article I try to identify the basic ethical and political issues.

View the Original article