Vietnam Tourism 2026: Entering the fierce race to "retain" tourists

International tourists visit relics in Hanoi . (Photo: Thanh Tung/VNA)

On the afternoon of November 19, in Ninh Binh, the National Tourism Promotion Conference 2026 was held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee with the participation of representatives of tourism departments of many provinces and cities. The conference took place in the context of unprecedented fierce competition in the global and regional tourism market, requiring Vietnam to make truly effective changes.

Customers change, global tourism changes

Vietnam welcomed over 17.2 million international visitors in the first 10 months of 2025, up 21.5% year-on-year, according to a report by the National Tourism Administration. Along with Japan, Vietnam is one of the two countries leading the world in international visitor growth in the first half of the year.

The brand identities of “Vietnam - Endless Beauty” and “Live Fully in Vietnam” after the pandemic have been consolidated and gradually become clearer. Many destinations have won international awards and been highly ranked by prestigious world media and tourism organizations.

However, the report also pointed out that these brand identities have not really resonated internationally like Thailand’s “Amazing Thailand” or India’s “Incredible India”. Looking more broadly at the reasons, Vietnam tourism still has many limitations.

Leaders chairing the conference. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

Notable limitations include: Lack of a unified long-term promotion and advertising strategy at the national level (each locality promotes in its own way, there is no national tourism brand identity and standards set, visas are not as open as in some countries); the financial mechanism for promotion is not stable and commensurate (only about 1/20-1/50 compared to Thailand and Singapore); limitations in products and services associated with promotion (not attractive enough, not evoking many emotions); lack of a mechanism to measure and evaluate effectiveness; digital communication is not strong enough to make an impression.

Global customer behavior changes, countries change their strategies in a timely manner, taking advantage of the post-COVID-19 period to reposition the national image... from regional to global.

“The global tourism market is entering a period of unprecedented fierce competition as countries continuously launch large-scale promotional campaigns to gain market share of international visitors,” said Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration Nguyen Thi Hoa Mai.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong speaks at the conference. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

In 2026, Vietnam aims to welcome 18 million international tourists and 85 million domestic tourists, with total tourism revenue reaching about 800 - 900 trillion VND.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong said that this year's conference was organized early so that the industry could proactively prepare for 2026. He also said that 2026 will be a pivotal year in the implementation of the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, vision 2045, setting out the task of innovation, tourism promotion and cooperation, coordination for deeper and stronger development between the public and private sectors.

“A 10-second clip also gets millions of views”

The contributions of representatives of tourism departments, associations, and airlines at the Conference all aimed at diversification along with concretizing tourism experiences for potential customer groups, creating convenient and cost-optimized infrastructure to encourage tourism spending.

Many opinions emphasize the need for digital marketing and communication development strategies. Mr. Nguyen Chau A - representative of Oxalis Adventure Tours said that the company has spent 15 billion VND on marketing alone. He commented that national tourism needs personalized tourism products, needs a worthy online marketing strategy, through movies, KOLs, fairs, etc.

There needs to be specific experiences to "catch" the emotions of diverse customer groups. (Illustration photo: Mai MAi/Vietnam+)

Mr. Truong Quoc Hung, Chairman of the Hanoi UNESCO Travel Club, also affirmed the importance of standardized digital data and media archives to be ready to provide to influential figures.

“A 10-second Tiktok clip can get millions of views. Tourists like real emotions, real scenes, dishes with cultural depth, touching memories,” Mr. Truong Quoc Hung affirmed. Through that, he emphasized that the 2026 promotion plan needs faster and stronger digital communication, applying AI.

The President of the UNESCO Travel Club also emphasized the need to promote public-private partnerships, propose development cooperation between travel agencies to travel far together, and need to combine groups of businesses to exploit potential markets together.

Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, Mr. Vu The Binh, affirmed that Vietnam's tourism growth can increase much higher than the level set by the State. He suggested establishing more Tourism Promotion Offices abroad, making this a channel to collect data on customer psychology and behavior in other countries.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism affirmed that a successful destination is not to sell a tour, but to help customers see the value of the destination. The representative of the department proposed having a national event calendar handbook to systematize information, strengthen the role of strategic coordination through the development of a national tourism promotion strategy for 2026-2030, improve the capacity of the local Tourism Promotion Center system...

At the end of the Conference, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong directed the units to cooperate deeply for substantial development to promote the national image and soft power. Tourism promotion needs to take place regularly and continuously like a flow, diversified and concretized, not missing the opportunity to attract potential customers from regions around the world./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/du-lich-viet-2026-buoc-vao-cuoc-dua-giu-chan-du-khach-khoc-liet-post1078003.vnp