Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres Begins San Francisco Promotional Tour Today

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---Mayor Hugo Torres and other city officials today began a two-day San Francisco visit to promote tourism, business investment and real estate opportunities in this region.

The focal point of the visit is a forum called “Doing Business In Mexico,” which also includes representatives of other regions of the country.

Both the federal government of Mexico and the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco assisted in arrangements. Rosarito Economic Development Director Hector Reyes and Convention & Visitors Bureau President Laura Wong also are on the trip.

“Rosarito has been a popular tourist destination for the U.S. for decades, and we are the focal point for the construction of vacation and retirement homes along Baja’s Gold Coast,” Torres said. ”About 14,000 foreign nationals now call Rosarito home. In addition, many foreign firms have recognized the advantages of doing business here.”

But Torres said the some unbalanced media coverage of Mexico’s crackdown on organized crime have falsely created the impression that the area is unsafe.

“The battle against drug cartels is an important one that is of vital concern to both Mexico and the U.S.,” Torres said.

“But our visitors and typical residents are in no way at risk from it, despite many media stories that have suggested otherwise.

“Most recent stories and media outlets now recognize that fact, which has been verified by many leading U.S. officials, including the U.S. consul for Baja. But much damage has been done and we need to work hard to reverse the inaccurate perception.

“Trips like this will help do that by informing people that we have wonderful things to offer visitors, residents and investors, all in a safe and welcoming environment.

An Interview With Our CEO, Wouter Hoeberechts  When did the concept of Medical Tourism first catch your attention? 

At the start of 2006, I read an article about the up and coming industry that allows people to travel abroad to receive medical treatment at a fraction of the cost in the U.S.  Ever since I arrived in the U.S. from The Netherlands, I’ve known that improvements to the US healthcare needed to be made.  My wife’s father is an internationally renowned urologist and professor in Turkey and I became fascinated with the strides that country was making in the delivery of high quality, affordable care.  I started following advances made in other countries like India, Belgium, Mexico and realized North Americans have viable low cost alternatives that are of high quality.  What background do you bring to this venture?  My background is management consulting.  I’ve helped businesses large and small, in multiple industries, develop practical business strategies, manage change, leverage information technology, reengineer customer service functions.    When I examined the Medical Tourism industry, I saw several companies that each did some things quite well, but no single company seemed to pull all the success points together.  With my background in strategy and business process improvement, I knew where the gaps were, and that I could pull together a team of the best minds to manage every aspect of this venture with quality.   What sets WorldMed Assist apart from other medical tourism companies?   In setting up our company we always put our clients’ interest front and center.  For example, we looked very closely at people without any insurance.  They’re at the end of their ropes: the system doesn’t provide for them. We consider it our mission to improve people’s quality of life by putting together a set of options where they can receive economic high quality medical treatments abroad, with every aspect of their care and travel coordinated and simplified.  Another essential component to success in this industry is helping self-insured businesses expand affordable healthcare options for their employees.  My experience is both broad and deep in helping businesses integrate new solutions into existing platforms and coaching them on change management aspects of such a shift.  How do you ensure quality care when you’re several thousand miles away from your patients?  Quality care is job one for us.  We have contracts with experts in all fields related to this industry--doctors, nurses, marketing, customer service, and tourism.  We sign agreements mainly with JCI accredited hospitals that are affiliated with renowned US medical institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical.  We look for hospitals that are able to attract the best talent.  For example, in Anadolu, Turkey, 35% of the physicians are US board certified. We also do an exhaustive study of their capabilities, technology deployment—and their ability to create a smooth, pleasant experience for North American patients.    We help each patient select the right facility and medical team for his or her procedure, then arrange conference calls with the medical team to discuss details.  We stay in close touch during the procedure, and relay information back to the patient’s homefront.  We stay connected to patients throughout the experience and maintain close follow up upon their return.  We know that their satisfaction—and resulting word of mouth promotion of WorldMed Assist—is what will allow us to flourish.  If a patient is dissatisfied, we will do anything in our power to make everything right.    Can employers add a medical tourism option into their health plans? 

Absolutely, and by doing so, they create a win for their business and a win for their employees.   WorldMed Assist begins by listening to the unique needs of each business, and then creates a detailed, tailored plan that addresses: 

LA JOLLA DEL MAR RENTAL, BEACHFRONT PENTHOUSE
(5 min. from Downtown Rosarito)

• 15th FLOOR 2 Story PENTHOUSE

• First time on the market!  

• 4 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms + Den       

• 2 Master bedrooms, one on each floor

• 2 Separate balconies

WEEKLY RATE: $1,150 U.S.

This is a one of a kind condo for the discriminating vacationer that will take your breath away.  This is one of the most luxurious locations in Rosarito and will provide you with fun and splendor while you are on your vacation.  There is enough room for everyone to find privacy if they want it our to join the group in the spacious family room.  Two balconies give you the ocean view pleasure that this condo boasts.  At less than $175 a night you can not beat this price.  Reserve today so you can plan that vacation now.

Zinnia Quezada listing

Contact Bajalaura@gmail.com

The Furniture and Accesories Association of Rosarito

invites you to the 8th edition of the

Rosarito Arts and

Furniture Expo

(Expo Mueble Rosarito, 2009)

July 3 - 5,

Inauguration: July 3rd at 11:00 am at Pabellon Rosarito

(New shopping center at Rosarito North entrance)

Come see the wonderful creations of Mexican crafters

* 1500 sq. meters of exhibition, (wood , iron and marmol)

* Decorating items, floor tiless, doors, and talavera

*Home decor items

*Art exhibition by local artists

*Gastronomic and artistic festival.

FRIDAY JULY 3rd FROM 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

SATURDAY JULY 4th   FROM 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

SUNDAY JULY 5th FROM 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

for more information please visit:

www.afamaro.com

Ailing Calif. economy could prolong US recession

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California faces a $24 billion budget shortfall, an eye-popping amount that dwarfs many states’ entire annual spending plans.

Beyond California’s borders, why should anyone care that the home of Google and the Walt Disney Co. might stop paying its bills this week?

Virtually all states are suffering in the recession, some worse than California. But none has the economic horsepower of the world’s eighth-largest economy, home to one in eight Americans.

California accounts for 12 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and the largest share of retail sales of any state. It also sends far more in tax revenue to the federal government than it receives — giving a dollar for every 80 cents it gets back — which means Californians are keeping social programs afloat across the country.

While the deficit only affects the state, California’s deepening economic malaise could make it harder for the entire nation’s economy to recover.

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When the state stumbles, its sheer size — 38.3 million people — creates fallout for businesses from Texas to Michigan.

“California is the key catalyst for U.S. retail sales, and if California falls further you will see the U.S. economy suffer significantly,” said retail consultant Burt P. Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group. He warned of more bankruptcies of national retail chains and brand suppliers.

Even if California lawmakers solve the deficit quickly, there will likely be more government furloughs and layoffs and tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts. That will ripple through the state economy, sowing fear of even more job losses.

Californians have already been scaling back for months as the state’s unemployment rate has climbed to a record 11.5 percent in May. Increases to the income, sales and vehicle license taxes approved by lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February acted as a further drag on spending.

Personal income declined in California in 2008 for the first time since the Great Depression, and income tax revenue fell by 34 percent during the first five months of this year.

The decrease in spending is especially evident in automobiles. California is the nation’s largest single auto market, and sales are down 40 percent from last year. Auto dealers see little hope of a quick turnaround, especially after a 1 percentage point increase in the state sales tax and hike of the vehicle license fee.

State agencies also canceled contracts for hundreds of new vehicles, retroactive to March, said Brian Maas, director of government affairs for the California New Car Dealers Association.

Because California’s $1.7 trillion annual economy is so important, the state’s treasurer has asked for federal help — in the form of a guarantee that would allow California and other states to take out short-term loans at lower interest rates.

A federal guarantee would cut the interest rate on the state’s borrowing by as much as half, saving California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It’s not that California got itself into trouble and wants the federal government to bail it out,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Los Angeles. “California wants the federal government to do for a fee that which Wall Street would do for a fee if Wall Street wasn’t broken.”

But some members of Congress worry about setting a precedent for bailing out local governments.

“You’ve got many states throughout this country, you’ve got many cities that are in tough financial problems, so they will all come for help,” explained Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.

Any extra federal assistance is sure to be a hard sell in Washington and elsewhere because of California’s free-spending image.

That may have been true before the recession, but the state cut $15 billion in government spending in February and plans to solve most of the $24 billion deficit through even more cuts.

Government workers face the possibility of three-day-a-month furloughs, teachers are being laid off, lower-income college students stand to lose their grants and hundreds of thousands of poor children could go without health care.

The recession is behind this fiscal turmoil. Some 1 million jobs are expected to be lost in California in two years and unemployment is estimated to peak at 12.3 percent in early 2010, said Jeff Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Schwarzenegger has repeatedly stressed that he hasn’t asked for a bailout and doesn’t want any special treatment for California — though he likely wouldn’t reject more stimulus funding if it came his way.

Economist Stephen Levy, director of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto, has argued for another nationwide stimulus package to help all states avoid further cuts to social programs intended to help vulnerable people.

“If we are the bellwether, I would have Californians reach out to other states and really make a plea for national assistance,” Levy said. “The recession is not our fault.”

Associated Press writers contributing to this report include: Anne D’Innocenzio in New York; Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C.; and Kimberly Johnson in Detroit.

With the skyrocketing cost of surgical procedures in the US, a team of American doctors is helping patients find physical and financial relief through a network of top-notch surgeons in Mexico.
Unable to accept the fact that their patients could not afford necessary surgical procedures, physicians Dr. Curtis Page and Dr. Robert Page set out to find an affordable solution. For the past eight years, the team has been putting surgeons in Mexico though a rigorous screening process in order to identify the country’s best surgical care teams. The two doctors then accompanied their patients to Mexico for top quality surgical care at a fraction of the cost of a U.S procedure.

Until now, this service was only available to Dr. Curtis Page and Dr. Robert Page’s personal patients. However, in light of the disturbing trend of rising surgical costs in the US, and armed a long list of trusted surgeons, the team has taken their medical tourism surgical coordination services to a national level.

“The number of people who are living a poor quality of life simply because they cannot afford the cost of a basic surgery is alarming. Someone who is wheelchair bound because they don’t have $50-60,000 for a knee replacement surgery can completely transform their life by having that same surgery in Mexico for $12,000 - $16,000,” says Dr Curtis Page, President of the medical tourism surgical coordination service MedToGo.

Page warns that patients should not attempt to make a choice about an overseas surgeon without proper medical guidance.  As the popularity of medical tourism rises, so too do the risks of patients being given low quality referrals by marketers hoping to make fast referral bonuses.

“We are one of the only medical tourism coordination services operated by doctors – not marketers. We thoroughly evaluate surgeons by traveling to Mexico, collecting resumes, and observing each potential doctor in 2-3 surgeries. We ensure that the doctor has good hands, good technique, good bedside manners, and that they are 100% committed to patient care. We turn down more doctors than we accept and only work with the most highly qualified and the highly skilled,” says Page.

Page says while medical tourism offers the key to a higher quality of life for millions of Americans, patients should be extremely cautious of making their own self-diagnoses or taking recommendations for surgeons from non-medical professionals. As part of its national medical tourism coordination services, MedToGo physicians thoroughly screen each patient to ensure that surgery is safe and necessary, and then connect them with an appropriate surgeon with top credentials.

More information about medical tourism, as well as a list of surgical procedures offered by MedToGo recommended surgeons, is available on MedToGo’s website at: http://www.medtogo.com.

About Med To Go: MedToGo is a doctor-run medical tourism surgical coordination service connecting U.S. patients with highly qualified surgeons in Mexico. MedToGo’s team of doctors have been touring hospitals and developing relationships with highly-recommended, skilled, board-certified, English-speaking doctors throughout Mexico since 2000.

Media Contact:
Robert Page
MedToGo
866-633-8646
5030 S. Mill Ave., Suite D-12
Tempe, AZ 85282

New Border Fast Pass/Fast Track Lane Open for Tourists

NOW OPEN!

Save Time Crossing Back into the U.S.

What is the Border Fast Pass?

The border fast pass program, called Fast Track, is a single-use coupon that gives you access to a special lane designated for tourists. You will still need to present the necessary documentation to U.S. border officials. As of June 1, 2009 you will need a passport.

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How much time can I save by using Fast Track?

How do I get a Fast Track pass?

• If you are visiting Rosarito, you may obtain your Fast Track pass by visiting these establishments:
  • Grand Baja Resort
  • Las Rocas
  • Rosarito Beach Hotel
  • Festival Plaza
  • Calafia Hotel
  • Brisas del Mar Hotel
  • La Casa de la Langosta restaurant
  • Puerto Nuevo II restaurant
  • Fausto Polanco hacienda furniture
  Check with the hotel for specific requirements. Some will offer the pass with a package and others for visiting the spa, restaurants, etc. at the hotel and spending about U.S. $70 ($1000 pesos).


• If you are visiting Ensenada, first obtain your Ensenada Distinguished Visitor Card. The card is $12, but the discounts you will receive will pay back the cost of the card quickly. The Ensenada Distinguished Visitor Card may be purchased from our website. You may then obtain the Border Fast Pass by visiting the merchants who are participating in the Fast Track program and spending about U.S. $70 ($1000 pesos). We advise to confirm with the hotel or venue first that they offer the Fast Track and how to get it once you are there.
  Program participants:
  • Posada El Rey Sol
  • Estero Beach Hotel
  • Adobe Guadalupe Hotel
  • Desert Inn Hotel
  • Best Western El Cid
  • El Cortez Baja Inn
  • Hotel Santo Tomas Baja Inn
  • El Rey Sol restaurant
  • Sano's Steak House
  • Playitas Club del Mar

• Establishments in Tijuana:
  • La Casa del Mole - Playas de Tijuana
  • Hotel Real del Rio
  • Corona Plaza Hotel
  • La Carnicería
  • Vivamex Health Care
  • Caliente
  • Vita Spa

What border crossings have a Fast Track lane?

Where is the Fast Track lane located?

How much does it cost to get a Fast Track pass?

Will there be more Fast Track lanes in the future?

Is the Fast Track lane like the SENTRI?

More Information

Passport Now Required

Medical travel is becoming increasingly popular among North Americans. Hospital Angeles in Tijuana Mexico admitted its first patient just over two years ago, and recently performed its 2,500th lap band weight loss surgery on Angela Jones from Dalton Georgia. WorldMed Assist, a global health care facilitator, made all the arrangements for Jones. Ninety five percent of Hospital Angeles' beriatric patients come from North America.

Dalton, GA (PRWEB) April 4, 2008 -- Angela Jones just learned that she became the 2,500th patient to undergo lap band surgery at Hospital Angeles in Tijuana, Mexico. She followed patient number one by just over two years. "This was a significant milestone for the hospital because 95% of its bariatric patients come from north of the Mexico border," said Wouter Hoeberechts, CEO of WorldMed Assist, the medical tourism company that facilitated all arrangements for Angela. "If anyone wonders how fast the trend of North Americans traveling for medical procedures is growing, Angela Jones and those who preceded her tell the story."

Hospital Angeles and WorldMed Assist decided to team up in celebration by awarding Angela a free lap band fill, a post-surgery procedure that restricts food intake.

"Wow, was I surprised," said Jones. "I knew this hospital had done a lot of these surgeries, but I didn't know it was that many, and that I'd be part of their celebration."

When Angela Jones began researching a permanent solution to her perpetual battle with excess weight, little did she know the trail would lead her first to WorldMed Assist , and then to a hospital in the upscale Zona Rio of Tijuana.

After studying several weight loss surgery options, the solution she chose was lap band surgery. "I chose lap band over other weight loss surgeries because it's less drastic, adjustable, reversible and fast to recover from," Jones said. "I had two friends who'd gone to Mexico for this same surgery, and each lost 150 pounds. Once I'd made up my mind to go for it, I found WorldMed Assist on the internet and asked them to find an experienced medical team to perform the procedure at a price I could afford."

Among the options WorldMed Assist proposed was Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala at Hospital Angeles Tijuana. "I checked Dr. Lopez Corvala's background and was very impressed with his volume of lap band surgeries--over 3,000--and his track record. Then I checked out the hospital, and saw that it was very new, very modern. I was completely confident in my decision to go there."

Located just a hop across the U.S. border, Hospital Angeles Tijuana, performs the highest number of lap band surgeries among all hospitals in Mexico.

Carlos Zavala, Director of Business Development for Hospital Angeles Tijuana, explained the lap band. "It relies on an adjustable silicone ring place around the upper part of the stomach that is filled with saline to reduce the stomach capacity and restrict the amount of food that can be consumed at one time. The diameter of the band can be modified as patients lose weight or if circumstances change. For example, pregnant patients can expand their band to accommodate a growing fetus, while patients who aren't experiencing significant weight loss can have their bands tightened."

The procedure does not require stomach cutting and stapling or gastrointestinal re-routing to bypass normal digestion. More information about lap band surgery can be found at Resource Page Baja Online Realty.

Mexicana is taking you to national and international destinations including flights to Mexico City, Guadalajara and Cancun. Check out some of the round trip sample fares:

• Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta from $148
• Miami to Cancun from $174
• Dallas to Monterey from $227
• San Antonio to Acapulco from $266
• New York to Puerto Vallarta from $404

Hurry! Book your ticket by July 3, 2009. You can travel now through December 10, 2009.

Blackout dates include September 4-6 and November 25-30, 2009.

Expiry: July 3, 2009.

MEXICO CITY, July 1 (Reuters) - Compartamos (COMPARTO.MX), a Mexican bank that makes small loans to family businesses, expects its second-quarter lending to have risen more than 20 percent despite a steep recession.

Tiny compared with Mexico's leading retail banks, Compartamos normally lends to one- or two-person businesses. Clients typically borrow around $370, at interest rates of about 75 percent, to buy supplies or capital, such as sewing machines or tables.

"At the beginning of the year Compartamos expected to grow above 20 percent, but everything indicates we'll comfortably beat that goal," Chief Financial Officer Fernando Alvarez told Reuters in an interview.

In the first quarter, Compartamos (COMPARTO.MX) expanded its loan portfolio by 42 percent, with 288 million pesos in net profit.

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This month, Compartamos plans to issue a bond for as much as 2 billion pesos with a maturity of at least three years, locking in financing to keep growing, Alvarez said.

Shares of Compartamos have surged about 126 percent since the global credit crisis slammed stock markets around the world in October, when it turned to government-backed development banks for financing as liquidity dried up in other markets.

The Mexico City-based microlender focuses on clients who do not qualify for loans at large, traditional banks.

"Demand for credit hasn't changed much," Alvarez said. "The demand is there, it's a neglected market."

Compartamos requires its clients to form into small groups of neighbors or merchants at local markets, and then holds each team responsible for making up payments missed by any of its members. ($1 = 13.11 pesos) (Reporting by Noel Randewich and Tomas Sarmiento; Editing by Richard Chang)

Letter from Langdon: Happy with Health Care?

By Valerie Rota

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s peso posted its biggest quarterly gain in 14 years as mounting speculation the global recession is easing fueled demand for emerging-market assets.

The currency was little changed at 13.1807 per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. New York time, from 13.1851 yesterday. It rose 7.5 percent in the second quarter, the most since 1995. The peso rebounded from a rout over the past nine months that pushed the Mexican currency to a record low in March.

“The budding signs that perhaps the worst of the recession has passed has tempted investors out of relatively safe assets like the dollar and into riskier and higher-yielding assets like the Mexican peso,” said Omer Esiner, a senior currency analyst at Travelex Global Business Payments in Washington.

The gains in the peso during the April-to-June period was part of a rally in global stocks and other emerging-market currencies. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posted its best quarter since 1998 while Brazil’s real had its biggest quarterly gain since the introduction of the currency in 1994.

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Still, the gains in Mexico’s peso may be short-lived “given the long list of headwinds facing the global economy,” Esiner said. “In the near-term, we might be looking at a pullback in the peso against the dollar, as well as a pullback in equities, commodities and emerging-market assets in general.”

The U.S. Conference Board’s consumer sentiment index decreased to 49.3 this month from a revised 54.8 in May, the New York-based research group said today. The U.K. economy shrank 2.4 percent in the first quarter from the final three months of 2008, more than previously estimated and the biggest contraction since 1958, the Office for National Statistics said today.

Yields on Mexico’s 10 percent bond due December 2024 rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 8.46 percent. The bond’s price fell 0.11 centavo to 113.2 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.

To contact the reporter on this story: Valerie Rota in Mexico City at vrota1@bloomberg.net.

Immigrants who once wired money from home are asking for remittances to stay afloat in the US

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       JUNE 29, 2009

Rosarito To Offer Tourist Information Booths

Daily From 10 To 5 During July 4^th Weekend

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---The city will have two information booths to assist tourists from 10 to 5 this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The booths will be in front of Oceana Plaza on Boulevard Benito Juarez in the city’s main downtown tourist district and at the world famous Puerto Nuevo Lobster Village.

Brochures and other materials will be available as well as staff who can answer visitors’ questions.

The booths are among many steps that the popular tourist destination 30 miles south of San Diego has taken this year to make its visitors feel even more welcome and secure.

Others include establishing a Tourist Police Force, plus a special city department and ombudsman to assist visitors.

“Rosarito has been an extremely popular tourist destination for the United States for decades, with more than a million visitors annually in recent years,” said Rosarito Mayor Hugo Torres.

“Unfortunately some unbalanced media coverage about the Mexican government’s crackdown on drug cartels has created the misleading impression that Baja is not safe for tourists.

“But in truth our visitors have never been more welcome or safer,” Torres said. “Those who have visited us this year can attest to that, as can the 14,000 expatriates who have chosen to call Rosarito home.”

The coastal city is known for its beach resorts, spas, extensive shopping, outdoor activities, culture, history, craftsmen, artists, fine dining and Baja Studios, where Titanic and Master & Commander were filmed.

Additional information is available on www.rosarito.org

      MEDIA CONTACT:               Ron Raposa

ronraposa@hotmail.com

                                                      619-948-3740

Ron Raposa
Cell: (619)948-3740

ronraposa@hotmail.com

U.S. Mailing Address:

2751 Lincoln Court
National City, CA 91950