Assessment of Geographical Conditions for Wellness Tourism Potential in Dak Lak Province

Wellness tourism is forecasted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as one of the six tourism trends that will grow significantly in the 21st century. After COVID-19 global pandemic, the need to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit has gained attention and wellness tourism becomes more popular in the world as well as in Vietnam. Wellness tourism business models have been established in Vietnam; however, they are still in their early stages, and further studies are needed to analyze the potential for wellness tourism. Dak Lak province offers numerous advantages for promoting wellness tourism, including a tropical monsoon climate in the highlands, dozens of rapids, more than 300 lake landscapes, and unique and diverse biological resources in two national parks and five conservation areas, along with the natural medicinal systems and cultural values of 49 ethnic groups. The work of inventorying and evaluating tourism resources for the development of wellness tourism contributes to diversifying products, prolonging the length of stay, and increasing spending of tourists to Dak Lak. The study applied the Multi Criteria Decision Making Approach, which combines six research methods, to determine the potential of wellness tourism in Dak Lak province with three geographical sub-regions that are as “very favorable”, three are “fairly favorable”, and two are “averagely favorable”. Two core clusters, three auxiliary clusters, and dominant sub-regional health care and resort tourism products have been identified and spatially oriented.