Billion dollar market waiting to be exploited

Billion Dollar Market

According to statistics from Grand View Research (USA), medical tourism is growing rapidly, and it is predicted that by 2030, global medical tourism revenue will reach nearly 100 billion USD.

With such a large market, in recent times, some countries such as Thailand, Korea, India, Malaysia... have promoted the exploitation of this type of tourism, thereby welcoming tourists from the US and European countries. Specifically, there were times when Thailand welcomed more than 3 million medical tourists, generating revenue of more than 700 million USD, India reached the milestone of 3 billion USD, Malaysia reached 1.7 billion USD in revenue.
In Vietnam, the type of resort tourism combined with medical examination and treatment is assessed to have great potential for development, and can reach an annual revenue of about 2 billion USD. The reason is that Vietnam's medical services are affordable, so it attracts many international tourists and overseas Vietnamese to use the services during their travel.

Medical examination for international tourists at Vinmec Times City International General Hospital. Photo: Hoai Nam

For example, the cost of heart bypass surgery in Vietnam is 10,000 - 15,000 USD, while in Thailand it is 25,000 - 30,000 USD. Statistics from International Living Magazine (Australia) show that the cost of dental work in Vietnam is currently 6 to 10 times lower than in some countries such as the US, Canada, and Australia. Compared to some Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, the cost of dental work in Vietnam is also 30-50% cheaper.

Analyzing the reasons why international tourists use medical services while traveling in Vietnam, Director of Tam Anh High-Tech Eye Center, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hiep said that although the cost of medical examination and treatment in Vietnam is quite cheap, the quality of doctors' skills as well as investment in equipment and treatment machines are not inferior to any country with advanced healthcare.

With the above advantages, before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to statistics from the National Tourism Administration, every year there were about 10,000 foreign patients coming to Vietnam for dental work, bringing in revenue of over 150 million USD.

Improve quality to create trust

Assessing the potential for exploiting this type of tourism, experts pointed out that although Vietnam has many strengths to develop medical tourism, the exploitation process has revealed weaknesses such as too little information about tourism services combined with medical treatment, and few travel agencies organizing tours combined with health care. Many hospitals have not met international standards such as JCI or ISO, so foreign tourists are still hesitant to register for medical examination and treatment services.

Reflecting on the difficulties in the process of linking with clinics to build medical tours, Director of SUN SMILE TRAVEL Vietnam Company Duong Thanh Hang shared that the first weakness in the medical examination process of the Vietnamese medical team is that they are not fluent in English.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, doctors can communicate fluently in English with foreign patients. “Therefore, if Vietnam wants to attract international tourists to come for medical tourism, it needs to improve the foreign language proficiency of medical staff without depending on interpreters,” Ms. Duong Thanh Hang suggested.

Reflecting on the difficulties in building medical tourism tours for international visitors, tourism businesses share the opinion that most private clinics in Vietnam have not been certified by the World Health Organization.

Director of Viet Circle Travel Company Phan Dinh Hue said that 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 the websites of hospitals, 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 cooperation between health agencies, facilities with conditions to develop medical tourism and travel agencies is still lacking in synchronization. "To attract more tourists, health facilities need to improve their standards to be granted international certifications so that customers can trust and use their services," Mr. Phan Dinh Hue suggested.

Agreeing with this reflection, Director of the Institute for Tourism Research and Development Nguyen Anh Tuan shared 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.

“Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry launched 30 medical tourism tours, but they mainly provide dental health care services, enjoy healthy dishes and “check-in” to take photos at places such as the Dental-Jaw-Facial Hospital, visit the City Theater... While foreign tourists coming to Vietnam use medical tourism products mainly focusing on infertility treatment, high-tech disease screening, traditional medicine, aesthetics, health care resorts and specialized medical care...” - Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan clearly stated.

To develop medical tourism, representatives of some tourism businesses commented that the health sector needs to identify and promote its strengths to meet the requirements and needs of medical tourism; Strengthen the development of more types of high-tech disease screening, build and provide quality services; Promote research, development and innovation in the health sector; establish high-quality medical human resource training centers; Develop modern infrastructure, deploy high-tech medical zones.

At the same time, continue to develop medical tourism combining modern medicine and traditional medicine to provide a full range of quality health care services, build a network of specialized care, thereby enhancing the Vietnamese brand in the international market.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/du-lich-y-te-thi-truong-ti-usd-cho-doi-khai-thac.html