Vietura: High-end medical tourism at its best

MANILA, Philippines -  The wellness and beauty treatments are 100 percent non-surgical and non-invasive and the results are guaranteed to be long-term.

That’s the promise of Vietura, the country’s first high-end holistic wellness and beauty destination, located at the five-star luxury hotel resort Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila.

Vietura owner and chief practitioner Dr. Mary Jane Torres boasts of the unique features that this two-month-old wellness facility has to offer, which distinguish it from other aesthetic and wellness clinics in the country.

“For one, being inside a prestigious hotel is already a privilege. The image of Sofitel gives us already an edge,” she said. “Vietura is marketed by the hotel, that’s the reason why everything comes in one package. Whenever you buy treatment with us, you can also enjoy the amenities of Sofitel including room accommodation.”

Medical tourism in the Philippines has taken a new turn with the birth of Vietura, a name coined from “vie” which means life and “tura” from “natura” which means nature.

Vietura is a 50-50 partnership between Torres and Sofitel. Torres brought in some P20 million worth of treatment equipment while P20 million was spent by Sofitel for building the facility and for marketing.

The 20-room world-class health, beauty and wellness center can accommodate at least 30 clients per day with an average of two to three hours’ treatment per client. Evenings are the busiest times of the day.

Opened in March this year, Vietura is also the very first-of-its-kind to offer 100 percent non-surgical and non-invasive aesthetic procedures with guaranteed long-term results.

“Many people are not aware that beauty and anti-aging can be achieved without surgery. Vietura can also be a place where you can have your post-surgery maintenance or for those who would want to prevent surgery, they can start here. That’s the reason why we are trying to make it big in this field because there’s really a big market for non-surgical procedures,” she said.

While Vietura settles in a five-star hotel, Torres said their rates are relatively competitive.

“The regular treatments that we have which other clinics also have are very competitive. Meaning, they are similar with our competitors. Sometimes it’s even cheaper because of the added value that we have. Like we also include room accommodation, some discounts on other facilities like our So Fit, Le Spa, and even our buffet and salon,” she said.

Unique offers

By next month, Torres said they would introduce a breakthrough anti-aging treatment, which is also another first in the history of Philippine medical tourism.

This approach, she said, would allow the clients to know the most appropriate anti-aging procedure for them using results from an extensive blood test data gathering as reference.

“We will soon be introducing the so-called evidence-based approach in anti-aging. We’ll be running some tests and we’ll be recommending the necessary hormone treatment that you need based on your blood tests,” Torres said.

Asked what makes this treatment different from other existing blood test-based anti-aging processes, Torres said, “The normal blood test doesn’t really give you all this specific data of your hormones. We would still be sending out this blood test abroad and then they would send us back the results. It would be more comprehensive, more accurate. This is really for anti-aging which is not available in regular hospitals. This will be included in our anti-aging packages.”

Aside from being the sole distributor of the Resonax machine, the latest non-surgical face and body sculpting technology from Europe, Torres also pioneered the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and Power Cell Lift treatments which stimulate the body’s own healing process that eventually lead to smoothening out of lines and deep wrinkles.

Vietura is likewise the only wellness place where you can find a “lifestyle coach” who helps and assists the client throughout the treatment process.

“Sometimes the reasons why we do the treatments are that the goals need to be redefined. The goal not only during the treatment but in life and that’s the reason why we included a life coach in the team,” she said.

Aside from the lifestyle coach, Torres’ internationally trained team consists of 12 registered nurses, a dietitian, and a dentist.

Vietura is also the first aesthetic institute to offer a comprehensive body sculpting and weight management program that combines technology with a healthy lifestyle.

It also offers a variety of treatment packages for skin vitality, detox, and dental cosmetics. 

Expanding its market

Banking on their partnership with Sofitel, Torres believes they would also be the first to go global using the totally non-surgical, non-invasive approach to medical tourism.

Torres said by the first quarter of next year, they hope to put up a similar facility in one of Sofitel’s chain in Asia with the same level of investment as in Vietura in Manila.

But for the meantime, she said they would want to set their sight on the huge untapped market of balikbayan and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“We have not even expanded. We can start out with balikbayan or Filipino residents abroad and OFWs. After long years of working abroad, they would want to reward themselves with world-class beauty treatment. And they cannot get this kind of treatment abroad because it is too expensive. The non-surgical treatments are not yet been fully introduced to the balikbayan. They don’t know that the effect of non-surgical is equally the same with surgery, even better and safer,” she said.

Torres estimated that less than two percent of the country’s medical tourism market has been tapped. Earlier studies showed that the medical tourism industry in Asia could reach about $8.5 billion by 2013 at double-digit compound annual growth rates.

“There is really a potential huge market for medical tourism in the Philippines only if we could market (our services) well, starting off with this segment (balikbayan, OFWs) who brings in money to our country,” she said.

This is where, Torres said, the government should also do its part and help in the promotion of medical tourism in the country.

“We have a lot to offer not only to foreign tourists but also to our kababayan when it comes to medical tourism. We just need the government to back us up in this initiative,” she stressed.

So far, Torres noted that most of their clients are local-based hotel guests.

“We have not yet even tapped the online buyers and the foreign market. Our clients now are mostly locals who would always want to relax in a hotel and then saw that there are something more to do in a hotel rather than just relax, eat, swim. Now, they can enjoy and at the same time do all beauty treatments in one cozy place,” she said.

As one of the prime movers of the country’s medical tourism industry, Torres said, “I strongly believe that medical tourism can happen in the Philippines. As providers, we are ready, we are equipped. We have the technical know-how, we have the facility. We need the support in promoting the Philippines as a beauty destination.”

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For more information on Vietura, call +632 551-5555 local 5000, e-mail at info@vietura.com or visit www.vietura.com.