Finding a way to develop special tourism services in Vietnam
Specialised tourism trends like medical
tourism, literature, travel, and film studio travel have existed a long time,
but in Vietnam they are still in their infancy.
Medical tourism
Foreign tourists enjoy mud bath in
Nha Trang.
Each year about 100,000 foreigners go to Vietnam for
medical treatment, contributing more than $1 billion of revenues to local
hospitals. At the same time, according to the Ministry of Health, Vietnamese
people spent over $2 billion for medical treatment abroad. Most tourists of
this kind design tours for themselves, not using services of travel agents.
Nguyen Dinh Anh, Director of the Communications
Department of the Ministry of Health, for foreign patients, the advantages of
Vietnamese hospitals is low cost. Some local hospitals offer hi-tech services
at reasonable prices and they are famous for some kinds of treatments such as
thoracic vascular diseases, IVF, dentistry....
The two most well-known hospitals among foreign
patients are the Medical University Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and Hue
Central Hospital. Asked about the mechanism for medical tourism, Dinh Anh
affirmed that the Ministry of Health does not license this service. The
majority of foreign visitors contacted local hospitals themselves.
Asking domestic tourists about the concept of
"medical tourism", most of them could not clearly define it. Some
saw the service like bathing with herbs of Dao ethnic minority in some
northern mountainous provinces and mud baths in Nha Trang as “medical
tourism”.
Actually, the twoservices are the only part of tours in
Vietnam that are related to “healthcare”. Other forms, from massage to
acupuncture to organ transplants, are not included in official tours in the
country. Foreign tourists have to search for the services on the Internet.
Lack of specific mechanisms for medical tourism has
prevented travel firms from developing this kind of tourism in Vietnam.
Gay tourism
In the past few recent Vietnamese have been more
open-minded but homosexuals still have to hide their sexual orientation.
According to the study on specialized tourism products for the community of
lesbians, gays, bixesual and transgenders (LGBT) in Vietnam by the Faculty of
Tourism of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 75% of
respondents said they chose the form of making their own tours because they
were afraid of stigma when purchasing tours and traveling in group.
Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat, Da Nang, and Nha Trang are
the choices of the majority of domestic tourists. Thailand is currently the
most ideal paradise of the LGBT in Vietnam. They chose Thailand for low
airfares and low costs and professional services. The average spending for
one traveler for a three-day tour to Thailand is only $300-$500.
Nguyen Thu Thuy, a member of the study group, said
there is a term for profits from tourism services for the LGBT -
"pink-money".
According to statistics in 2013, Vietnam had about 1.65
million people in the LGBT community in the age group of 15-59. If local
travel firms design tours and services for them, they can earn huge revenues.
Literary travel
Tourists become "Chi Pheo-Thi No
family".
"Vu Dai Village in the old days" is the first
literary tourism tour in Vietnam. It was offered by Khat Vong Viet Travel
Company in late 2014 in Hoa Hau commune, Ly Nhan district in Ha Nam province,
the hometown of well-known writer Nam Cao, the author of “Vu Dai Village in
the old days”, a famous literary work in Vietnam.
With the cost of only VND300,000 ($27)/person, the tour
helps visitors return to the northern countryside of Vietnam in the late 18th
century to experience the characters and events in literary works by writer
Nam Cao such as Chi Pheo, Thi No, Ba Kien, ...
Nguyen Ba Toan, director of Khat Vong Viet said the
tour sold well and tourists were interested in living one day as Chi Pheo-Thi
No, the famous couple in Vietnam literature and to participate in processing
the Vu Dai’s famous specialty – ca kho (braised fish).
Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh, President of the Union of Science
for Tourism Development, said the literary treasures of Vietnam were an
abundant resource of tourism. The union is planning to implement some
literature-based such as the tour to the hometown of poet Nguyen Khuyen in Ha
Nam Province, the tour to the hometown of great poet Nguyen Du in Ha Tinh
province and to the hometown of poet Han Mac Tu in Binh Dinh province.
Studio tours
Co Loa studio in
Hanoi suburbs.
After the film "I saw the yellow flowers on the
green grass" was released last year, the number of tourists to the
central province of Phu Yen where the movie was shot soaredby 20-40%.
Similarly, after the Hollywood film crew shot some
scenes of the Kong: Skull Island in the central province of Quang Binh
earlier this year, the provincial authorities said they would retain the
studios at Yen Phu Lake and Chuot Cave to serve tourism.
Mr. Vuong Duy Bien, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports
and Tourism also stated that the Ministry would create favorable conditions
to welcome foreign film crews to Vietnam for filming.
In mid-2014, Quang Ninh province carried out the Yen Tu
studio project, the largest studio for filming movies with the ancient
background, which is expected to become a cultural and historical park of
Vietnam and a destination for tourists to learn about Vietnamese culture.
This project will be completed in more than 1 year.
However, its contribution to the tourism industry is still a big question
mark because the failure of the Co Loa studio in Dong Anh district, Hanoi is
an expensive lesson.
Built at the cost of VND108 billion ($5 million), this
studio is now in ruins after only one year of operation.
Tien Phong
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Chủ Nhật, 5 tháng 6, 2016
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