Tourists practicing Taichi during a cruise trip on Ha Long Bay (Photo: VietnamPlus) Hanoi (VNA) – Along with the global tourism trend, Vietnamese tourists are predicted to increasingly focus on relaxing and physically and mentally healing tourism activities, enriching their soul and exploring the nature.
According to many tourism websites such as Booking, Travel and Leisure as well as international journals, major tourism trends in 2023 include healing tourism, sustainable tourism, solo travel, off-season travel, and budget travel.
What explains the trends is the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic to the global tourism, including Vietnamese tourism.
Recovering, healing tourism trends
In 2022, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh predicted that medical and healthcare tourism would increase in 2023 due to the impact of COVID-19.
Phung Quang Thang, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) and Chairman of the Vietnam Sustainable Tourism Investment and Development JSC, said that in the post-pandemic period, tourism activities in combination with healthcare services, including cycling, walking and sports tourism have been increasing.
He said that for healing tourism, ideal destinations include hot mineral springs, natural mineral mud areas with services such as sauna, massage, meditation, yoga, or spiritual destinations such as communal houses, temples, pagodas, monasteries, especially places that provide overnight stay services and experience deeper spirituality and spiritual recovery.
Tourists practice meditation and yoga along the coast of Con Dao island (Photo: VietnamPlus) Thang said that domestic tourism services are quite diverse, which is enough for customers to enhance their physical and mental health.
Many travel firms have recognised the demands and provided domestic and outbound tours in the fields.
Destinations for the tours are diverse, including those near major city centres such as Thien Son-Suoi Nga (Ba Vi district of Hanoi) which provides "green nutrition," clean products along with yoga-meditation-reflexology activities.
Outbound healing tours have also been advertised, including Bhutan pilgrimage tour with activities such as trekking, sightseeing, walking among Buddhist architectures, as well as tours to India and Thailand.
Enhancing tourists’ experiences, optimising nearby destinations
Cao Manh Tuan, an experienced tour guide in Nhon Ly island in Quy Nhon city of south-central Binh Dinh province, said that one of the tourism trends that are predicted to boom in the future is experiencing local life.
Along with running a homestay, Tuan has organised activities for tourists such as fishing, rowing, and joining local fishermen’s activities in the locality.
He said that the activities have drawn increasing number of tourists who tend to stay for a longer period.
Family tourists participate in activities to experience the local life at Bai Bac, Nhon Ly. (Photo: VietnamPlus) Sustainable tourism with a sense of protecting and learning about the environment is also a trend that many Vietnamese are interested in. A representative of Saigontourist commented that this demand is increasing in large groups of tourists such as those from businesses, organisations and especially schools.
Therefore, tours to national parks, mangrove forests combining camping and nature exploration, are one of the tourism products that Saigontourist is focusing on developing this year. For businesses, these tours can be designed to combine with MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism.
For families owning cars and living in the city, the trend to travel to the suburbs on weekends will increase, said the representative, adding that their destinations can be rural and mountainous areas.
However, according to Thang, the demand also poses new challenges for the tourism sector, requiring localities to find an effective way to optimise their strengths and create new tourism products./.
