Vietnam’s tourism sector has spent years pursuing growth, but as visitor numbers and investment rise the next challenge is turning that growth into a more competitive, higher-value, and sustainable tourism model. These issues took center stage at the discussion session entitled “Shaping the Future of Tourism: AI, Medical Tourism & Sustainable Growth” held on August 27 by the EuroCham Vietnam Culture, Sports & Tourism Sector Committee as part of the 20th International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC 2026).
The discussions highlighted three forces that could reshape Vietnam’s tourism sector. AI is changing how destinations are marketed and experiences are delivered; medical tourism could open higher-value opportunities in healthcare, wellness, and long-stay travel; and sustainability is becoming increasingly important as rapid development puts pressure on the natural and cultural assets that underpin Vietnam’s appeal.
Smarter tourism through AI
AI is poised to change Vietnam’s tourism sector not simply by automating tasks, but by influencing how travelers discover destinations, how businesses organize experiences, and how destinations compete for international visitors. Nowhere is that shift more apparent than in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) industry, where the volume of information, logistical complexity, and demand for personalization make AI particularly powerful.
For Ms. Giang Nguyen, Director of Sales & Strategic Partnerships, Vietnam, at Cision PR Newswire, one of the most significant changes will occur before a traveler or meeting planner ever reaches a destination’s website. Rather than searching multiple websites and comparing venues, connectivity, accommodation, and experiences, planners can increasingly turn to AI to evaluate destinations and establish an initial shortlist. “AI not only improves operational efficiency, but it will increasingly influence which destinations make the shortlist in the first place when they are trying to do some research,” Ms. Giang said.
That shift means Vietnam’s destinations will have to rethink how they present themselves. Simply having information online will no longer be enough; it must be consistent, current, and accurate enough for AI systems to understand and represent a destination. Hotels, venues, and communications teams will need to invest in content across multiple channels, as travelers may have already formed an initial preference before reaching a property’s own website.
For Mr. Vu Minh Anh, Founder and Managing Director of Terraverde Travel and Co-Chair of the Culture, Sports & Tourism Sector Committee at EuroCham Vietnam, this could give destinations such as Ho Chi Minh City an opportunity to compete with more established MICE centers in Southeast Asia.
Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur already have strong connectivity, major convention facilities, and mature MICE ecosystems. Ho Chi Minh City does not necessarily have the same iconic infrastructure, Mr. Minh Anh said, but AI could help it move from traditional destination marketing toward destination matching, identifying the destination best suited to a particular group and its needs.
AI could also transform how large-scale events are organized. Mr. André Pierre Gentzsch, General Manager of Furama - Ariyana Danang International Tourism Complex, described applications ranging from identifying speakers and researching audiences to developing marketing campaigns and coordinating delegate logistics. For major conferences, AI could help manage airport pickups, hotel allocations, transportation, and individual preferences across multiple venues.
It could also help address Vietnam’s growing hospitality staffing challenge. Mr. Gentzsch cited AI-supported housekeeping as one example, with room assignments dynamically adjusted according to check-in and check-out times, employee efficiency, and other variables. At the same time, he cautioned that the technology will reshape employment, potentially affecting workers in routine and middle-income jobs disproportionately. The sector therefore has a responsibility to use AI in a way that preserves humanity rather than simply replacing people.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Huy, Founder and CEO of the Pencil Group / Localis, raised another challenge: ensuring that AI accurately reflects Vietnam’s culture. Vietnamese remains a relatively low-resource language in many AI systems, meaning technology developed around other languages may not adequately capture the country’s cultural context. Richer datasets around Vietnamese language and culture will therefore be essential. “AI could help with that because of the power of language translation, and if we develop enough cultural data, that can help people converse and understand each other,” Mr. Huy said, highlighting the potential to help international delegates overcome language and cultural barriers.
However, he added that the ultimate value of MICE tourism lies in the relationships created between people from different companies, departments, and countries. AI can facilitate those interactions, but the objective remains human connection and trust.
That human element is particularly important for Vietnam, where cultural understanding and personal interaction are themselves part of the tourism product. Ms. Giang argued that AI can help businesses understand target audiences, localize communications, generate insights, and translate content, but the storytelling should remain human. Destination and hospitality professionals understand the culture, character, and experiences that visitors can discover beyond the conference room.
The broader question, then, is what all this technology is ultimately designed to achieve. Mr. Minh Anh argued that the sector should look beyond speed and efficiency and reconsider the purpose of travel and hospitality itself. AI should take over routine tasks so that people can devote more time to human encounters, connection, and a sense of belonging.
For Vietnam’s tourism sector, the AI transition is therefore not simply a race to automate. It is a race to become more intelligent while remaining unmistakably human - using technology to understand travelers better and deliver more efficiently, and to preserve the relationships, cultural understanding, and genuine hospitality that make travel meaningful.
Medical tourism the new frontier
Medical tourism could help Vietnam move beyond conventional tourism and into higher-value, longer-stay segments. But the opportunity is not simply about attracting international patients to Vietnamese hospitals. It is about building an integrated ecosystem that connects healthcare with hospitality, wellness, transportation, immigration, and long-term care.
Dr. Dilshaad Ali Bin Abas Ali, Founder and CEO of the Axel Health Group, said the fundamental drivers of medical travel remain relatively straightforward: access to care, clinical outcomes, affordability, and proximity. Patients travel when the care they need is unavailable or less accessible in their home markets, particularly for complex treatments such as cancer, spinal care, and cardiac care. Cost then becomes an important differentiator between destinations.
Against this regional landscape, however, Vietnam remains at an early stage. Dr. Ali described the country as being in an “aspirational stage” of its medical tourism journey, though the market is beginning to gain momentum. Current inbound activity is concentrated largely in elective procedures, including dental and aesthetic services, while Vietnam is gradually building the capabilities needed to compete for more complex medical travelers.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply to demonstrate that Vietnam has capable doctors and modern medical technology, but to give international patients confidence in the entire journey.
Dr. Le Quan Anh Tuan, Director of Vinmec Central Park, believes Vietnam is already close to being clinically ready. He pointed to the country’s doctors, facilities, and advanced technologies, particularly in surgery and ophthalmology, as evidence that it can compete for medical travelers within the Asia-Pacific region. “Patients should have facilities that can identify the risk for the patient before the journey and after the treatment,” Dr. Tuan said, stressing that medical tourism infrastructure extends beyond hospitals to connectivity between airports, medical facilities, and hotels.
For Dr. Mason Cobb, Chairman of Golden Sunrise Senior Life, the missing ingredient is coordination. Vietnam already has capable providers, but they are largely operating independently rather than as part of a national medical travel strategy. Other successful markets have addressed this through coordinated platforms that bring together hospitals and other service providers while promoting the country as a destination.
He pointed to Malaysia as an example. A national medical travel council can establish criteria for participating hospitals, identify their specialist capabilities, and promote the country internationally, while bringing hospitality, travel, and logistics partners into the patient journey. For Vietnam, such coordination could turn medical tourism from an individual-provider effort into a national agenda.
That coordination would also need to extend beyond healthcare. Ms. Florence Gaudry-Perkins, Founder and CEO of Digital Health Partnerships, argued that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should work with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, particularly on visa arrangements. Vietnam could learn from international examples while developing a system adapted to its own circumstances.
But the opportunity extends beyond conventional medical tourism. Rather than viewing healthcare as something people seek only when they become ill, the discussion explored a model that combines treatment, prevention, wellness, and hospitality.
Dr. Cobb described this as the transition toward “Medicine 3.0” - using healthcare more predictively and preventively than simply treating illness after it occurs. In this model, medical tourism could coexist with medical wellness holidays, creating opportunities for closer integration between healthcare and hospitality.
Mr. Louk Lennaerts, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary, pushed the idea further. Having spent decades developing hospitality and wellness concepts in Vietnam, Mr. Lennaerts argued that health should not be treated as an optional luxury or an additional hotel service. Instead, preventive care should become part of the hospitality experience itself.
From this perspective, Vietnam has an opportunity to develop something different rather than simply reproducing the established medical tourism models of Bangkok or Singapore. Mr. Lennaerts questioned whether future travelers will continue to view hospitals as separate clinical destinations or instead seek integrated environments where healthcare, hospitality, and wellness are combined.
That could also open significant opportunities in long-stay and retirement tourism. Dr. Cobb noted that Vietnam’s rapidly-aging population, together with the decline of traditional multigenerational living in cities, will create new demand for senior living, wellness, and healthcare. Yet practical barriers remain, including the absence of a broader retirement-visa system and the need for better coordination between immigration, healthcare, and tourism services.
Mr. Lennaerts argued that long-stay tourism should not be framed simply as a way for older foreigners to save money. It should offer a richer social environment and a higher quality of life, combining hospitality with preventive healthcare and ongoing relationships with doctors and clinics.
The integration envisioned by these ideas would also extend into the recovery process. Dr. Tuan said hotels and resorts hosting recovering patients would need practical adaptations, from wheelchair accessibility and walk-in bathrooms to trained staff, emergency readiness, and appropriate nutrition. Such changes, he argued, are achievable if hospitals and hospitality providers communicate and train together.
Ultimately, Vietnam’s opportunity lies not in competing solely on medical price or individual procedures, but in connecting its healthcare capabilities with the country’s existing strengths in hospitality, wellness, and culture. The next generation of medical tourism could therefore look less like a patient simply traveling to a hospital and more like an integrated journey in which care, prevention, recovery, and hospitality become part of the same experience.
Sustainable growth, lasting appeal
As Vietnam’s tourism sector expands, sustainability is becoming less a question of whether the country should grow and more of how that growth should be managed. Tourism brings investment, jobs, and incomes to local communities, but uncontrolled development can also undermine the natural environment, culture. and local experiences that attract visitors in the first place.
For Ms. Nguyen Kim Anh, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Pencil Group / Localis Vietnam, sustainability begins with preserving authenticity while ensuring that local suppliers and businesses can grow alongside the tourism sector. Rather than treating local culture as an additional attraction, she argued that it should remain at the heart of the tourism experience.
That challenge is becoming more urgent as visitor numbers and tourism infrastructure expand. Mr. Lukasz Kozlowski, CEO of MakeYourAsia, who has spent eleven years in Vietnam, said rapid tourism growth makes it essential to ensure that today’s success does not undermine the destinations themselves.
For international markets, particularly Europe, expectations are already changing. Mr. Kozlowski said European travelers are increasingly attentive to plastic waste, environmental degradation, and over-tourism. Tour operators are consequently under pressure to reduce waste and rethink their products, while Vietnam must address overcrowding and develop alternatives for travelers seeking more authentic experiences beyond its most heavily promoted attractions.
For Mr. Bao Nguyen, Country Manager of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Vietnam and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Green Transition Consulting & Training, sustainable tourism should not be reduced to environmental protection, as it requires a broader balance between economic, environmental, and social aspects, which he described as the “triple bottom line.”
AI is here to stay, but it is on us humans to keep humanity and to use AI in a responsible way that doesn't produce a lot of losses for the benefit of a few.
That perspective challenges the idea that sustainability and economic growth are inherently in opposed. Tourism businesses need revenue, destinations need investment, and local communities need economic opportunities. The objective is to ensure that these interests reinforce rather than undermine one another.
Mr. Bao argued that the biggest problem is often the gap between sustainability commitments and what happens on the ground. Certification, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting, and consulting can help, but businesses need reliable data and practical implementation rather than sustainability claims that exist mainly on paper.
The economic case for this approach can also be compelling. Mr. Bao cited a tour operator, which his company has been consulting, that converted a conventional product into a net-zero tour and, despite reducing customer volumes by 20 per cent, increased its income by 40 per cent within a year. For him, the example demonstrates the potential of shifting from a model based on quantity toward one based on quality and higher-value experiences.
That shift is particularly relevant as international travelers increasingly seek experiences that feel authentic and less standardized. Mr. Kozlowski argued that businesses should be transparent when sustainable products cost more, explaining what travelers are paying for and why certain practices or destinations have been excluded. Such openness can help consumers understand the value of sustainable tourism while encouraging local communities to preserve what makes their destinations distinctive.
Technology could support that transition by helping travelers discover places beyond Vietnam’s most-crowded destinations. But Ms. Kim Anh stressed that the quality of the underlying information is critical. Tourism information online is often fragmented or inconsistent, making it difficult for travelers, destinations, and local suppliers to navigate. A more reliable, multilingual, and coordinated data system could connect travelers with local businesses while allowing communities to tell their own stories.
This becomes particularly important as Vietnam faces questions about over-development in destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Da Nang, Ninh Van Bay, and Phu Quoc. Mr. Kozlowski similarly warned that some development decisions could become difficult to reverse. With major plans for new hotels, airports, and rail infrastructure, Vietnam risks discovering the cost of environmental degradation only after significant damage has been done.
Avoiding such outcomes will require collaboration across the tourism value chain. Mr. Bao argued that localities, businesses, and government agencies need to move away from working in silos and instead plan economic development, environmental protection, and community participation together.
That collaboration could also extend to local communities and AI. Mr. Kozlowski suggested that communities could provide accurate information about their destinations to AI systems, helping travelers discover less-developed places while allowing local communities to shape how their destinations are presented. AI can also make international examples of sustainable tourism more accessible to communities that previously would have needed outside experts to obtain such knowledge.
For Mr. Bao, however, technology and sustainability credentials mean little without evidence. He warned that sustainability risks becoming a marketing trend rather than a genuine operational commitment. “To shape the future in terms of sustainable tourism, it’s important to avoid green claims and ensure that you have real proof behind whatever specification or standard you use,” he said.
Mr. Kozlowski also placed responsibility on travelers themselves. As international travel becomes cheaper and more accessible, visitors need to become more conscious of the consequences of their choices - where they go, what they buy, and what they leave behind.
Vietnam does not need to choose between tourism growth and sustainability. But growth must not destroy the assets on which tourism depends. The next stage of development will require better data, coordinated planning, higher-value experiences, and greater participation from local communities, while preserving the people, culture, and natural environment that give Vietnam its distinct appeal.
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