Developing medical tourism - a still 'open' problem

According to a report by Grand View Research, the global medical tourism industry will generate nearly 100 billion USD in revenue by 2030. This is no longer a strange concept in the world, and is a rising tourism trend after the pandemic, however, the development of medical tourism in Vietnam is still an open question.

The "billion dollar" tourism industry

Appearing and developing since the time of ancient Greece and Rome, today, medical tourism has become a popular global service industry, the choice of millions of people wishing to experience high-quality medical services at an ideal cost.

With the nature of a resort tourism model combining health care with modern medical therapies, providing relaxing experiences, while preventing pathogens, using non-invasive cosmetic treatments... medical tourism will be one of the six main development trends of world tourism, according to the forecast of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

In Asia, medical tourism is expanding rapidly. Some countries such as Thailand, Korea, India, Malaysia... are medical tourism destinations for a large number of American and European tourists. In 2015, India reached the 3 billion USD mark. In 2019, Thailand welcomed more than 3 million medical visitors, generating revenue of more than 700 million USD, Malaysia reached 1.7 billion USD in revenue. Medical tourism customers in Asian countries have main needs including aesthetics, dental care, orthopedics,...

Some of the main reasons why medical tourism is chosen by many people

According to Market Data Forecast, the size of the medical tourism market in the Asia-Pacific region will reach a value of 9.53 billion USD in 2022 and 26.20 billion USD in 2027.

Although not yet a bright spot on the medical tourism map, Vietnam is still an attractive tourist country with nearly 16 million international visitors in 2018 and 18 million in 2019. After 2 years of being affected by the pandemic, Vietnam tourism is still ranked among the highest in the world (increased by over 75%) in terms of international searches. In particular, medical tourism in Vietnam is gradually developing. In 2018 alone, 80,000 foreigners came to Vietnam to seek medical services and treatment, bringing in more than 1 billion USD in revenue.

Potential to become Southeast Asia's leading medical tourism destination

Cost competitiveness is one of the reasons that helps Vietnam attract medical tourists. In the field of dentistry alone, International Living magazine (Australia) voted Vietnam as one of the top 3 Southeast Asian countries favored by Australian tourists, with the cost only 1/3 compared to Australia.

Besides, time is also a factor that helps medical tourism in Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, to dominate. While in the US, Australia or European countries, it takes 2-3 months to do porcelain teeth, in Thailand or Vietnam, this service will be completed in just 2 weeks.

However, the activities are still carried out individually, without forming a complete product, so this field has not achieved the revenue as its inherent potential. Besides, the products chosen by tourists today are mainly traditional medicine, dentistry and aesthetics. This shows that Vietnam medical tourism needs to diversify its services to attract customers.

In 2022, contributing to the development of Vietnam's medical tourism industry, the preparation for the appearance of the AAA Intelligent Health Regenerative Medicine Center right in the heart of the Shizen Nami project has brought good news to the real estate industry in particular and medical tourism in general. The center is invested by Gotec Land in collaboration with StemCells 21 (Thailand) - a corporation specializing in stem cell research, and soon TruDiagnostic - specializing in applied technology and gene decoding software in the US.

AAA Intelligent Health Center is located in the Shizen Nami project on the northwest coast of Danang Bay.

Mr. Le Minh Quang, doctor, medical consultant, member of the Board of Directors of AAA Intelligent Health Center, commented: “Vietnam’s medical tourism will have the opportunity to develop with the appearance of international standard treatment destinations. In addition, receiving and transferring medical personnel from developed countries will help improve the level of expertise and medical equipment in Vietnam.”

In fact, medical tourists will have an average stay of 7 - 15 days due to the characteristics of this type. Therefore, with more than 400 apartments provided to the market with a variety of energy-regenerating facilities, Shizen Nami is expected to not only be the leading medical tourism destination in Southeast Asia but also meet the accommodation needs of guests receiving treatment at the AAA Intelligent Health Center.

Health and tourism are two of the criteria for assessing the living standards of a country's people. Vietnam is a developing country and has great potential in the tourism and healthcare industries. The emergence of well-invested, strategic projects will be a lever to promote the growth of medical tourism as well as the tourism industry in general.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phat-trien-du-lich-y-te---bai-toan-van-con-bo-ngo-1851488327.htm