What needs to be done to ensure the genuine development of healing tourism?

Healing tourism requires a comprehensive, interdisciplinary strategy and in-depth investment for sustainable development, rather than focusing on isolated experiences.

In the post-pandemic era, amidst increasingly stressful urban life, healing is gradually becoming a new lifestyle, not just a trend. More and more Vietnamese people are choosing to leave the city, seeking nature and tranquility to heal both physically and mentally.

Travel to “rejuvenate” - not just to rest.

According to the latest statistics from Booking.com, wellness retreats are predicted to continue to be a prominent global travel trend in 2025. This type of retreat focuses on energy restoration, mental well-being, and helping travelers temporarily disconnect from their busy lives to reconnect with themselves.

Surveys from this platform show that 67% of people want to travel to improve their sleep, while 38% of singles choose wellness tours as a way to heal after a breakup. These figures demonstrate a clear shift from purely recreational needs to a journey of holistic well-being for body, mind, and spirit.

Young people are increasingly choosing to travel for mental and emotional healing.

Many people have shifted from traveling to see new places to traveling to reconnect with themselves. Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (Binh Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) is one example. After a long period of stress from work, he chose to travel alone to quiet places close to nature.

"Just getting away from the city for a few days, going to a place with greenery, listening to the sound of a stream, or reading a book in a pine forest helps me feel more at ease," Hung shared.

Similarly, Ms. Le Thao Nhi (Long Binh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) often chooses tours that combine yoga, meditation, and healthy eating. For her, it's not just about relaxation, but also about a sustainable lifestyle that helps care for both physical and mental well-being in a harmonious way.

Seizing the trend, many localities have leveraged their natural and local advantages to develop healing tourism products. In Nam Cat Tien Forest (Lam Dong), visitors can experience a "slow living in the forest" tour with activities such as morning yoga, evening meditation, and living in harmony with nature. In Dong Thap, lotus flowers have become the inspiration for unique recovery programs such as culinary experiences , lotus bathing, meditation in lotus fields, and body care using local ingredients.

For tourism businesses, the demand for healing travel is a sign of a shift in consumer behavior. Many have shifted to designing personalized itineraries with structured itineraries including rest, meditation, creative art detox, and nature therapies. Some resorts even collaborate with psychologists, nutritionists, and yoga instructors to support guests throughout their recovery process.

Healing tours combine therapeutic treatments such as yoga and meditation.

However, according to many businesses, healing tourism in Vietnam is still in its nascent stage, developing in a fragmented and shallow manner. Products mainly focus on relaxation, spa treatments, meditation, or yoga as individual services, lacking systematic, specialized activities. Notably, this type of tourism remains quite distant from the local community, which is a core element that creates differentiation.

Develop specialized products that are linked to local advantages.

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Man, a tourism expert, many localities have only invested in ecological landscapes and basic infrastructure, but have not paid attention to tour guides, health experts, or specialized treatment programs.

Furthermore, healing tourism products lack cohesion and synchronization between different types, resulting in an incomplete experience for tourists.

Ms. Manh commented that for healing tourism to develop to its full potential, clear policy guidance from state agencies is essential. Each locality should proactively develop a development strategy linked to its unique local resources.

In particular, it is necessary to focus on training highly specialized human resources and strengthening regional linkages to form a unified product chain that meets the increasingly diverse and sophisticated needs, especially from high-spending customer groups.

Notably, coordination between the tourism and healthcare sectors is essential for establishing a legal framework and standardized criteria for healthcare services within the tourism environment. With clear medical examination and treatment procedures at destinations, along with policies encouraging investment and promoting healthcare domestically and internationally, healing tourism can become a sustainable segment.

To develop healing tourism, it is necessary to strengthen regional linkages to form a unified product chain.

Dr. Duong Duc Minh, Deputy Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, believes that Vietnam can make healing tourism one of the key models in localities with unique ecological, natural, and cultural advantages.

According to Dr. Minh, it is necessary to expand accommodation models that combine health care, such as themed tours of meditation and yoga on the beach, tours exploring nature in the mountains and forests, combined with physical training, improved sleep quality, and healthy eating.

"In parallel, there is systematic investment in infrastructure ranging from resorts, spa centers, yoga studios, to specialized treatment centers. Unique experiential activities such as living with fishermen, learning traditional fishing methods, or exploring uninhabited islands also contribute to clearly defining the healing identity of the destination," Dr. Minh analyzed.

Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour, analyzed that the role of local communities in developing regionally distinctive resort tourism products needs to be emphasized. Elements such as folk medicine, spiritual culture, and sustainable lifestyles should be combined to create rich and profound experiences. This not only enhances the emotional value for tourists but also contributes to creating livelihoods and preserving traditional culture for local people.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness tourism market reached $447 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow by 14.7% annually until 2027. Notable destinations include Bali (meditation and yoga), Costa Rica (forest therapy), and Thailand (international spas).

In Vietnam, this type of tourism is present in Da Lat (pine forests, yoga), Phu Quoc (resort spa), Hoi An (meditation, cultural therapy)...

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, healing tourism contributes approximately 8-10% to the tourism sector's GDP and is expected to experience strong growth in the near future thanks to the growing middle class and high-end international tourists.

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Source: https://baolaocai.vn/lam-gi-de-du-lich-chua-lanh-phat-trien-thuc-chat-post878759.html