Ecuador eliminates health insurance for tourists entering the mainland

Ecuadornews:

The Government of Ecuador announced today that it has eliminated the health insurance requirement for foreign tourists arriving in the mainland of the country, although it is maintained for those who visit the Galapagos Islands.

“Foreign tourists entering continental Ecuador will no longer need to take out health insurance, as established in the Organic Law for Productive Development, Investment Attraction, Employment Generation and Stability and Fiscal Equilibrium that went into effect this Tuesday,” said the Ministry of Tourism in a statement.

The Organic Law of Human Mobility established the obligatory nature of health insurance to grant tourist migratory quality and was a requirement for entry into continental Ecuador, adds the letter.

The elimination of health insurance was promoted by the Tourism Minister, Enrique Ponce De León, as a strategy to “maintain the country’s tourism competitiveness” and to support “the receptive tourism industry of our country,” the statement added. (I)

Source: https://www.larepublica.ec/blog/economia/2018/08/22/ecuador-elimina-seguro-de-salud-a-turistas-que-ingresen-en-territorio-continental/