How has Vietnam changed over last 30 years in foreign tourists' eyes?

Australian man Grant Wilson first visited Vietnam in 1999 and quickly fell in love with the country.

Since then he has been returning several times a year, attracted by its pristine appearance.

"At that time there were almost no visitors to Vietnam from Asia, but now when I go out on the street, I immediately meet Chinese, Korean or Japanese people," he says.

Australian tourist Grant Wilson poses for photos in An Giang Province in southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Grant Wilson

Back then the country's natural beauty stood out, but services were poor.

The center of Da Nang was chaotic, the beaches were dirty and littered, and Hoi An had almost no tourism services, with even domestic travelers showing little interest.

Foreign tourists often faced overcharging when shopping, and theft and handbag snatching was not uncommon.

Despite his affection for Vietnam, Wilson says in the early years of the country's opening to tourism, foreigners were seen as "easily fooled."

"Vietnam's reputation is very different now. Many foreign visitors talk about this country as a safe, friendly and hospitable destination, and one of the most popular destinations in the world."

Mark Bowyer pioneered efforts to bring the first foreign tourists to Vietnam, traveling aboard the Thong Nhat (Reunification) train more than 30 years ago.

Vietnam was then still one of the poorest countries in the world.

"The roads were terrible and most hotels were mediocre," he recalls.

But visitors in the early 1990s were struck by the positive energy and determination of the Vietnamese people, he says.

While Vietnam has transformed dramatically over the past three decades, it has not lost its greatest strengths, the optimism, friendliness and hospitality of its people, he says.

Mark Bowyer (far left) on the Reunification train in Vietnam in 1993. Photo courtesy of Rusty Compass

In 2025 Bowyer sees an entirely different landscape, from food and beaches to shopping, adventures and even Vietnam's now world-famous coffee.

"Vietnam's tourism has grown tremendously," Dieter Buchner, founder of Vietnam Detox, a provider of high-end retreats, says after witnessing the transformation of the industry, particularly in the field of healing tourism.

Buchner first came to Vietnam in January 2015 to serve as director of education and wellness at Fusion Resorts in Hoi An.

At the time healing tourism faced steep challenges.

Unlike Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, or Malaysia, Vietnam lacked a professional training system for spa and wellness services, and environmental awareness remained limited.

"In 2015 Thailand had seen a significant renaissance in traditional medicine and herbal products.

"Vietnam, however, lacked a traditional herbal skin care industry, and almost no international visitors knew about its treasure trove of more than 5,100 medicinal plants or their effects on human health."

Massage and healing services in Vietnam also struggled with quality issues that went beyond technical skills, he says.

He recalls visiting a blind massage center where the staff told him they had been trained 13 years earlier and never received further instruction.

Similar situations were common across commercial spas and even hotel spas, he claims.

But he has witnessed what he describes as significant "evolution" in healing tourism over the past decade.

The market is now growing at an average annual rate of 23%.

Alex Sheal, founder of Vietnam In Focus company, which specializes in providing photography tours of Vietnam, was one of the first people to begin guiding foreign tourists to Hanoi's Train Street.

During his early years in Vietnam from 2007 to 2012 he had grown fond of wandering along railroad tracks through residential areas.

But there were no tourists or coffee shops inches away from the tracks like there are now.

People cooked, did laundry, bathed children, and read newspapers beside the tracks, and found the appearance of foreigners there like Sheal strange.

Sheal is still in Vietnam and has witnessed the dramatic changes to the neighborhood he once discovered.

Although visitors are banned from the tracks, Train Street remains one of the capital's most famous tourist attractions.

Over the past decade old houses along the tracks have been replaced by cafés lit with bright colors. Locals, now accustomed to foreign visitors, easily strike up conversations to offer drinks as tourists wait for trains to rumble past.

Sheal recently made two trips, one to Dien Bien and the other with his family on a vacation to Ha Long.

He found Dien Bien to be a land untouched by tourism, reminiscent of Ha Giang 18 years ago.

The pristine beauty, the rough roads the simple accommodation but welcoming smiles everywhere; he found it to be a cultural adventure.

Ha Long was a different experience, causing surprise at its rapid pace of development since his last visit there 10 years ago and large resorts and clean beaches.

Robyn Nichols, an Australian tourist who has visited Vietnam numerous times in the last seven years, says she loves Vietnam for a number of reasons, including its low cost of living and distinctive cuisine.

Last year she visited Phu Quoc and says she was struck by how quickly the island's tourist areas had transformed.

"It's strange for a foreigner to drive through a European village in Vietnam."

But the country still has many places preserving traditional culture and avoiding the overdevelopment seen in Bali or Phuket, she says.

Australian Wilson says he still loves Hoi An but no longer stays in the heart of the old town because of the crowds of tour groups.

Instead, he prefers areas outside the center such as An Bang and Cam Thanh, where he can enjoy the peace each morning when he wakes up.

Concerns about overdevelopment are growing as the rise of giant hotels, resorts and mass tourism threatens to erode Vietnam's natural beauty and the simple pleasures of slow travel.

Bowyer believes the country's tourism sector needs a reorientation with greater emphasis on nature, clean air and water and the preservation of traditional values.