Ho Chi Minh City (VNS/VNA) — Traditional medicine and acupuncture, dentalcare, cosmetic surgery, pathological screening, and artificial inseminationwill be improved to make them Ho Chi Minh City’s main medical tourism products in the coming years, a recent workshop heard.

Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, deputy director of the city Department of Tourism,said medical tourism had great potential along with agri-tourism, eco-tourismand inland waterway tourism.

According to the Vietnam National AdministrationTourism, the number of foreign tourists coming to Vietnam for tourism combinedwith healthcare has been increasing in recent years and revenues are now wortharound 2 billion USD a year.

Last year some 300,000 foreign visitors visitedhospitals in the country for health checks and treatment, including 57,000inpatients. Hospitals in thecity accounted for 40 percent of the number.

The World Tourism Organisation has forecast thetop six global trends of the future are health tourism, responsible tourism,eco-tourism, community tourism, smart travel, and creative tourism.

Developing medical tourism products is not onlyin line with the global development trend, but will also contribute todiversifying the city’s tourism products and tourism sector development, Hoasaid.

Her department is working with the healthdepartment to develop medical tourism by 2025, with a focus on traditionalmedicine and acupuncture and dental care.

Phan Yen Ly of Saigontourist’s inbound division said itwas necessary to develop unique products to foster medical tourism in the city.

Promoting marketing and having well-definedtarget customers are very important, she said, adding there was also aneed to reduce the patient overload at hospitals and improve the quality oftheir medical services.

Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, chief of the health department office,said the city had many quality hospitals that could help develop medicaltourism, adding the cost of healthcare is low compared to other countries inthe region while the quality of doctors and equipment are not inferior.

The health department has launched a mobile appcalled Medical Tourism Assistant which helps patients seeking basic informationon healthcare services and hospitals in the city. It plans to develop the app in English to meet the demandfrom foreign tourists next year.

Last year it also released a medical tourismguidebook in Vietnamese and English with basic information about travel andhealthcare in the city.

The workshop offered an opportunity to hospitalsto introduce their medical services and packages for tourists. It was organised on the sidelines of the 15th annualInternational Travel Expo HCM City being held from September 5-7 at the SaigonExhibition & Convention Centre in District 7. — VNS/VNA