Medical tourism destinations

Developing medical tourism is also a task assigned by the Politburo to the health sector in the draft Resolution on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health by 2030, with a vision to 2045.

International tourists stopping in Da Nang will have more experiences of medical tourism in the near future. Photo: LTK

From a policy perspective

In March this year, the People's Committee of Da Nang City (before the merger) issued the Medical Tourism Development Plan 2025 - 2030, with a vision to 2050. The goal revolves around improving the quality of medical services and standardizing according to international practices; diversifying product packages; building the image of a safe and modern medical destination and establishing an online support platform. Previously in 2019, the Department of Health of Da Nang City issued Document No. 473 to hospitals in the area on expanding medical services, medical tourism, and establishing international medical departments.

To become a "medical tourism destination" in the period 2025 - 2030, Da Nang city has announced a quite specific roadmap: by the end of 2026, at least 5 medical service packages combined with relaxation will be formed; increasing to 10 packages in the second quarter of 2028 and reaching 15 packages in 2030; at the same time, connecting the medical network with 100% of tourist areas and spots, training foreign languages ​​- communication skills for medical staff and building a multilingual digital platform for booking appointments, consulting, and payment.

Many international patients choose to receive treatment at medical facilities in Da Nang city. Photo: XH

This requires coordination capacity between the health sector, tourism sector and related sectors. In April 2025, at the Da Nang Medical Tourism Development Workshop, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Tran Chi Cuong affirmed that developing medical tourism is one of the important orientations in the city's high-quality service development strategy, associated with the goal of building Da Nang into a major socio-economic center of the Central Highlands and the whole country. City leaders said that this goal is based on the city's existing advantages such as a team of good doctors, rich public-private medical facilities, synchronous tourism infrastructure, safe and friendly living environment, in addition to diverse recreational and resort resources.

Meanwhile, in 2024, Quang Nam province (old) also issued a plan to implement the Project on developing traditional medicine services and products to serve tourists. Based on resource advantages, many mechanisms and policies related to the development of traditional medicine services and products to serve tourists have been set out. This aims to make traditional medicine a mainstream tourism product line. From health care tourism, aesthetic tourism, medicinal tourism, discovery tourism to academic tourism are all based on the strengths of traditional medicine.

Modern medical infrastructure

The combination of the medical and tourism industries not only helps improve service quality and modernize medical examination and treatment processes, but also becomes a sustainable development trend in the future. Currently, medical facilities and hospitals in Da Nang city have been expanding their services to foreigners who are also tourists. Many medical facilities have invested in purchasing medical equipment and machinery, improving service quality and infrastructure to serve tourists.

Many international patients choose to receive treatment at medical facilities in Da Nang city. Photo: XH

In 2017, Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital established a "Medical Tourism" unit to conduct medical examinations, treatment and rehabilitation for tourists and foreigners. At the Da Nang Medical Tourism Development Conference, a representative of Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital said that with the advantage of Da Nang's attractive tourism environment, high-quality human resources and rich traditional medicinal herbs, the hospital's "medical tourism" unit has had an increasing number of patients coming for examination and treatment. Patients are also tourists from different countries such as Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines, Hungary, France, Greece... In which Korean patients account for the majority with 56.9%, China 11.1%, the US 10.6%, Australia 6.7%, the rest account for 14.7%.

At Hospital 199, this unit announced the operation of a medical tourism unit to serve international guests. In fact, the hospital has received special treatment cases of foreign guests, and at the same time promoted cooperation with international partners to standardize processes and products.

Meanwhile, at private medical facilities, international treatment units are always chosen by many foreign tourists. Facilities such as Family Hospital and Vinmec are prestigious destinations in the Central region for international tourists, and are also the foundation for developing family treatment and resort packages with long stays, requiring post-treatment services, psychology, nutrition, etc.

Mr. Tran Cong An - Director of Vinh Duc General Hospital (Dien Ban Dong Ward) said that in addition to meeting international standards, the hospital has connected and approached foreign tourists through various channels. Vinh Duc General Hospital is also a private medical unit that proactively anticipates international tourism trends in the old Quang Nam area. From proactively building medical examination and treatment procedures specifically for foreign visitors, the hospital also offers separate service packages with specific prices to facilitate foreign tourists and travel agencies.

Currently, many hospitals in Da Nang have arranged high-quality treatment areas, treatment areas on demand for tourists. Many hospitals have signed contracts with international health insurance companies to make health insurance payments when customers come to Vietnam for examination and treatment.

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), medical tourism is one of the six main trends of future tourism with a strong market growth, from 639 billion USD in 2017 to 919 billion USD in 2022.

At the National Conference on Medical Tourism Associated with Sustainable Development, organized by the Ministry of Health in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (August 26), experts said that Vietnam has a great opportunity to exploit this trend, but still faces many challenges.

Challenges include: lack of a clear national medical tourism development strategy, unsynchronized medical infrastructure, limited international communication, and complicated immigration procedures that make it difficult for tourists.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/diem-den-du-lich-y-te-3301380.html