Thua Thien-Hue rolled out measures to become wellness, medical tourism centre: Illustrative image. (Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

Having a system of high-end resorts and hotels located in peaceful areas on hills and along river banks and beaches, the ancient capital city of Hue is an ideal place for tourists to immerse themselves in nature and relax.

In order to be ready for the new tourism trend, the Hue Central Hospital has worked with the provincial Department of Tourism to build wellness tourism programmes, while upgrading its infrastructure system.

Associate Prof. Doctor Nguyen Van Hy from the hospital said it has offered diverse medical packages suitable to different groups of customers, focusing on dental, aesthetic and cosmetic medicine, and plastic surgeries to meet the increasing demand for beauty care.

Particularly, as the capital city of the country during the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue also had "Thai Y Vien", which was once the healthcare agency for not only the royal family and mandarins in the Royal Palace, but also soldiers and people under the Nguyen Dynasty. Thai Y Vien has become a unique heritage that is being restored and promoted as an exclusive product of Hue, helping promote the province’s medical tourism using traditional medicine.

Director of the provincial Department of Tourism Nguyen Le Phuc said that in Vietnam, wellness tourism is still a new product but with great potential.

He underlined that Thua Thien-Hue boasts full conditions to become a wellness and medical tourism hub of the whole country. However, the province has much to do to bring its advantages into full play, he said.

Truong Thanh Minh, Director of the Tourism Information Promotion Centre, said the province has still been weak in the promotion of its destinations and wellness tourism trademark.

Permanent Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh said that in order to turn the locality into a real centre for wellness and medical tourism, in the time to come, the province will focus on training professional personnel while combining human resources of different sectors to serve wellness and medical tourism activities.

At the same time, the locality will strengthen marketing activities to popularise its strengths, intensive medical technologies and modern medical achievements to visitors, while designing special tours with the combination of natural exploration and medical activities, he said.

Director of the provincial Department of Tourism Nguyen Van Phuc said that the locality aims to develop wellness tourism into a supplementary product of its heritage-culture-festival tourism, helping enhance the province’s attractiveness.

It will call for the engagement of the whole political system and local residents in responding to the World Wellness Weekend campaign to lure more visitors, he said.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism marked its presence in more than 100 countries in 2019 and is forecasted to expand 7.5% each year.