Marbella, leader in private healthcare for foreign patients

The report analyses the number of foreign patients in the sector based on the language in which users write their reviews of 3,340 clinics specialising in medical tourism: dentistry, plastic surgery, aesthetic medicine, hair transplants, fertility and ophthalmology.

The analysis examines eight languages as well as searches carried out for Spain from different countries.

Marbella tops the ranking with a score of 66.5 out of 100, well ahead of Palma, which is in second place with 41.8, followed by Alicante (40), Barcelona (37.6) and Malaga (31.8).

The index does not measure the percentage of patients who are foreign nationals, but rather reviews written in other languages. It enables a comparison of the degree of internationalisation of demand for healthcare across different municipalities.

In the case of Marbella, 57.5 per cent of the clinics have their five most relevant reviews in English, while 85 per cent of the centres feature at least one review in English.

English is the predominant foreign language in Marbella and across the Costa del Sol and the Costa Tropical, where reviews in English account for 83.2 per cent, followed, some way behind, by French (38.4), Dutch (21.3), German (18.7), Russian (18.4), Swedish (7.6) and Norwegian (2.5).

Marbella also has a distinctive feature: Russian ranks second after English. In Benalmádena, Dutch stands out, while Swedish is particularly prevalent in Benalmádena, Fuengirola and Nerja.

The difference with Malaga city is striking. While Marbella scores 66.5 points, the capital of the Costa del Sol scores 31.8 and ranks fifth among Spanish municipalities.

Seville, with 11.2 points, has a much lower number of reviews in English, while towns such as Lugo, Huelva, Móstoles and Fuenlabrada have no reviews in English among the most prominent on Google.

The internationalisation of healthcare is also spreading across much of the Costa del Sol. In an analysis of dental clinics, Nerja scores 87.3, followed by Estepona (78.9), Fuengirola (77.7), Mijas (76.9) and Benalmádena (74.9). Marbella scores 66.8 and Torremolinos 65.9, while Rincón de la Victoria stands at 46.7.

Dentistry has the highest internationalisation index, at 41.7 points, followed by fertility clinics, at 40. Plastic surgery stands at 20.2 points and hair transplants at 16.9.

Data on searches carried out from other countries also point to dentistry. From the UK, for example, "dentist benidorm" accounts for 260 monthly searches, while "dentist marbella" accounts for 30.

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