1. Advantages of welcoming tourists to explore and treat diseases

In recent years, in addition to exploring nature, tourists tend to improve their health, enhance their physical and mental health when traveling. According to a report by Grand View Research, the revenue of the global medical tourism industry will reach nearly 100 billion USD in 2030. Appearing and developing since ancient Greece and Rome, today, medical tourism has become a popular global service industry, the choice of millions of people who want to experience high-quality medical services at an ideal cost.

Vietnam is considered a "gold mine" attracting international tourists because of its great potential for developing medical tourism. Tourists coming here for medical treatment can also explore the rich cultural and historical heritage, admire many natural wonders and enjoy the warm tropical climate. Fruits, herbs in all four seasons, and cuisine are highly appreciated by the world. Vietnam has a coastline of more than 3,200km with many beautiful beaches, thousands of large and small islands suitable for resort tourism, water sports, and medical treatment. The geological industry has discovered about 400 hot mineral water sources, which are both medicinal and can produce bottled drinking water. This further increases the attractiveness of Vietnam. This is a health and beauty care destination that few countries have.

Tourists can choose from: regular health care, rehabilitation and convalescence, surgery and intensive treatment, dental care, infertility, methods of changing appearance... According to many experts, currently the demand for tourists coming to Vietnam to combine resort tourism and medical examination and treatment is very high, which can reach an annual revenue of about 2 billion USD. Vietnamese medicine is a combination of modern medicine and traditional medicine with high professional qualifications of doctors, so these are also the strengths of Vietnam's medical industry.

Vietnam offers affordable medical services at prices that are about 10% lower than in the US. Vietnam also has a significant advantage over other medical tourism destinations such as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. For example, the cost of heart bypass surgery in Vietnam is $10,000 - $15,000, while in Thailand it costs $25,000 - $30,000. Vietnam has become one of the destinations chosen by tourists to go to... get their teeth done. The reason is quite simple. Vietnam has a much lower cost of dental work than many countries in the world. Specifically, according to statistics from International Living magazine

(Australia), the cost of dental work in Vietnam is 6 to 10 times lower than in some countries such as the US, Canada, and Australia. Compared to some neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, the cost of dental work in Vietnam is also 30% to 50% cheaper. Although the cost is low, in Vietnam, the quality of dentists' skills as well as investment in equipment and treatment machines are not inferior to any country with advanced dentistry. In 2018, International Living voted Vietnam as one of the top 3 Southeast Asian countries favored by Australian tourists because of its high-quality and low-cost dental services.

Cosmetic surgery is also of interest to many tourists. Specialist Doctor 2 Nguyen Thi Phan Thuy - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital said that the number of customers coming for cosmetic treatment at the Dermatology Department is increasing, especially many international tourists and overseas Vietnamese customers coming for beauty treatments. In 2020, the department received 41,490 customers for beauty treatments, and by 2022, this number increased to 58,622.

At the Ho Chi Minh City Heart Institute, in recent years, the institute has provided specialized medical tourism service packages such as vascular intervention, cardiology... attracting the attention of international visitors for examination and treatment. Currently, the hospital has built a medical examination area for international visitors.

After 5 years of implementing the medical tourism model, 2023 is considered the most successful year in Vietnam with many achievements, remarkable medical tourism products, and many activities implemented with high efficiency. For example: Ho Chi Minh City has built 30 combo tour programs combining medical tourism and health care suitable for domestic and international tourist markets; launched video clips introducing and promoting medical tourism products in the city; updated, supplemented and adjusted the "Medical Tourism Handbook" in 6 languages with concise, clear and effective content; organized the promotion and advertising of medical tourism products to attract tourists in the Cambodian market and surveyed and learned from the experience of developing medical tourism models in Thailand...

2. Need to promote potential

In 2023, the total number of international tourists is estimated to reach 12.5 million, exceeding the set target (8 million). Total revenue from tourism is estimated to reach 672 trillion VND, exceeding the 2023 plan by 3.38%. On average, each year Vietnam receives about 300,000 foreigners for outpatient examination and 57,000 inpatients. Of which, up to 40% of visitors are concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City.

District 10 is the first locality in Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country to pilot the implementation of "Health Street" and provide medical tourism products and services, from July 2023. District 1 has 18 hospitals, 23 general clinics, 562 specialized clinics, 396 beauty - aesthetic service establishments, 467 pharmacies, 1,181 food service establishments. In particular, a pharmaceutical trade center providing all sources of medical supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals and a traditional medicine museum along with a system of service trade centers and hotels in the area are great potential if developed into a chain, to serve tourists who both visit and shop, and take care of their health and beauty. After 5 months of operation, "Health Street" has had initial preliminary results, has been promoted more by the media, and has begun to have connections between medical and tourism establishments.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said: "The trend of health care tourism is one of the new trends that Ho Chi Minh City is very interested in and currently Ho Chi Minh City is working with businesses to perfect health care tours. Not only do we have tours to serve the needs of tourists coming to Ho Chi Minh City, but we also cooperate with Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Dong Nai and the Southeast provinces to launch joint tours following this trend".

From 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector is shaping up to develop into a modern, specialized medical center and a health care center in the ASEAN region. Health care tourism is also one of the major goals not only of the Ho Chi Minh City health sector but also of the tourism industry and travel agencies.

Exploiting resources to develop health tourism has contributed to diversifying products, extending length of stay, and increasing spending of tourists in Vietnam.

However, according to experts, one of the weaknesses of medical tourism in Vietnam today is that there is still too little information about medical tourism services, and few travel agencies organize tours combined with health care. Many hospitals have not met international standards such as JCI or ISO, so foreign tourists are hesitant to register for medical examination and treatment services. There is not much information on hospital websites, not even in English for searching, and there are no accompanying support services, so it is difficult for foreigners to find a complete medical tourism service to use. In addition, the foreign language of nurses and caregivers is still limited. In addition, cooperation between localities, health agencies, facilities with conditions to develop medical tourism with travel agencies is still lacking in synchronization and is not fundamental.

Director of the Institute for Tourism Research and Development Nguyen Anh Tuan shared with the media that Vietnam currently does not have adequate research on the potential and necessary factors, nor does it have specific orientations and policies to develop this type of tourism. In particular, the Ministry of Health has not standardized health care procedures, which causes most tourism service establishments such as resorts, hotels, and homestays to only provide health care at the level of meeting basic needs for tourists.

If you are a foreigner who needs to use it when traveling in Vietnam, your legal rights will be supported as Vietnamese citizens. To ensure your rights are best protected, you should go with an interpreter to exchange and receive information fully and effectively.

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