New impetus from the CIS market

The Da Nang International Tourism Festival 2025, with its numerous tourism promotion events, has expanded opportunities for cooperation between travel companies and potential tourist markets. Photo: HAO LUONG

A new market with great potential.

According to Mr. Tan Van Vuong, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in the first nine months of the year, the city's tourism industry welcomed over 14.4 million overnight visitors, an increase of more than 22% compared to the same period last year. Of these, international visitors reached 5.8 million, an increase of 31%.

In particular, the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, comprising 9 official member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) market accounted for over 220,000 visitors, representing nearly 4.2% of the total international visitors to Da Nang .

2025 also marks a successful CIS tourist season with the launch of direct flights from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, totaling 16 flights per week, contributing to the growth of the tourist market from this region.

Although Russia does not yet have direct flights to Da Nang, the Russian tourist market has seen strong growth recently. While the number of Russian tourists reached approximately 68,000 in 2024, it doubled in the first nine months of 2025.

Along with Russian tourists, visitors from the CIS bloc, especially those from countries with direct flights such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have seen very high growth rates in Da Nang city, with 91,000 Kazakhstani visitors in the first nine months of the year.

On April 2, 2025, Da Nang welcomed its first flight from Kazakhstan with over 300 passengers. Over the past nine months, more than 30 flights have brought a large number of tourists from the CIS market, making them a key component of international visitors to Da Nang.

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, tourists from the CIS region are emerging as one of the potential and stable markets, contributing significantly to the total number of international tourists to Vietnam. The end of the year is predicted to be the peak season for international tourists from CIS countries, with significant growth expected. This positive impact stems from the policies and promotional activities of the countries and localities.

“We highly appreciate Da Nang city's preparation of services, products, human resources, infrastructure, and the implementation of promotional activities to effectively capitalize on the CIS tourist market in the past, laying a solid foundation for Da Nang to continue enhancing its competitiveness and sustainably attracting this tourist source in the coming years.”

"With the dynamism of the locality, the proactive creativity of businesses, and strong support policies from the State, we believe that the CIS tourist market will continue to grow strongly, making a positive contribution to the goals that the Government has assigned to Da Nang in 2025," Mr. Khanh said.

Develop a systematic strategy.

Surveys from travel companies and recent tourism activities show that tourists from the CIS market are interested in beach resorts, package tours, and allocate 30-35% of their budget to accommodation. They also spend about 20% on food and beverage services. Of the total number of visitors to the city, 70% come to Ba Na Hills. In addition, tourists also favor destinations like My Son, Hoi An, and especially beach entertainment areas.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Director of the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center, one of Da Nang's strengths is its experiential tourism products, heritage, and cultural tours, along with various activities around the city.

In addition, after merging with Quang Nam, Da Nang's infrastructure includes more than 2,300 hotels with an extremely large number of rooms; out of 44,000 hotel rooms, 4- and 5-star hotels account for 47%. "These hotels, which have been welcoming international tourists from South Korea, China, and Japan in recent times, have standardized services with major brands."

Furthermore, Da Nang's airport system benefits greatly from the support of Da Nang International Terminal Investment and Exploitation Joint Stock Company (AHT), which provides 5-star standard services, welcoming guests right at the city's gateway. All these advantages give Da Nang complete peace of mind regarding service quality to tap into long-term markets such as Russia and the CIS,” Ms. Tham shared.

However, alongside the advantages, Da Nang also faces some difficulties, namely that the CIS tourist season coincides with the domestic tourist season from April to October, and especially the surge in tourists during the international fireworks festival season, requiring accommodation establishments to balance short-term and long-term guests to serve effectively.

Furthermore, from October onwards, it's the rainy season, so tourists start flocking to Nha Trang and Phu Quoc. In addition, because Da Nang is only just starting to enter this market, hotels haven't yet fully developed service packages to meet customer demand. Tourists from the CIS market mainly speak Russian, resulting in a shortage of Russian-speaking personnel.

In 2026, to continue maintaining growth momentum and attracting tourists from the CIS, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Tham stated that the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center will advise the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to participate in major trade fairs in the Russian market and strengthen communication and promotion efforts.

Simultaneously, the city will collaborate with localities such as Nha Trang and Phu Quoc to promote international tourists from the Russian and CIS markets on domestic flights arriving in Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, and to encourage them to visit Da Nang. The Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center has launched an online portal in Russian to provide official information for Russian and CIS tourists.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/dong-luc-moi-tu-thi-truong-cis-3308380.html