Viet Nam's tourism industry has recently recorded a series of positive developments. According to data from the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism, the country welcomed approximately 17.7 million international visitors in the first nine months of 2026, up 14.5% year-on-year and equivalent to 70.7% of the annual target. Domestic tourist arrivals were estimated at around 126 million, an increase of 5.8%, reaching 84% of the annual target. Total tourism revenue was estimated at VND 874 trillion, up 10% compared with the same period in 2025.

Viet Nam is a popular destination among international tourists. (Photo: Tourism Information Center, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

Notably, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2026 report, released in late September, Viet Nam ranked second globally in terms of improvement in its TTDI score. More recently, at the World Travel Awards 2026, Viet Nam was named “Asia's Leading Destination” for the eighth time and “Asia's Leading Heritage Destination” for the fourth time.

These achievements demonstrate the growing appeal of Viet Nam's tourism industry and the increasing recognition of its national tourism brand. Alongside efforts to diversify tourism products, improve infrastructure, enhance visa policies, and strengthen service delivery capacity, tourism promotion and marketing have played an important role in these accomplishments.

In recent years, the tourism sector has continuously stepped up efforts to attract visitors and stimulate tourist flows through new promotional models and initiatives, including appointing tourism ambassadors, promoting destinations through cinema, and developing a digital tourism promotion ecosystem. Numerous promotional campaigns have been launched in high-potential markets such as Japan, India, Russia, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), featuring tourism fairs, international festivals, and cultural and culinary events.

However, amid increasingly fierce competition among global destinations and constantly evolving visitor preferences, tourism promotion should no longer focus solely on expanding brand awareness. Instead, it needs to shift toward a more targeted and in-depth approach, closely aligned with priority markets, specific tourism products, and clearly identified distribution partners, thereby translating promotional efforts into actual service bookings and revenue.

Although Viet Nam's tourism promotion and marketing activities have shown encouraging progress, coordination among central authorities, local governments, and the business community has at times remained insufficient.

Furthermore, funding for these activities remains limited and lacks long-term stability. As a result, the scale, reach, and professionalism of promotional campaigns have yet to meet expectations, while the image of Viet Nam as a tourism destination continues to lack consistency.

Against this backdrop, Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW of the Politburo on developing Viet Nam's tourism into a spearhead economic sector in the new era has emphasized the need to establish a national tourism promotion program with consistent and professional messaging. The resolution calls for tourism promotion to be integrated with efforts to promote the country's image, investment environment, trade, cultural identity, heritage, and people.

It also stipulates that the State should provide unified coordination for national destination promotion campaigns and work alongside major enterprises in international tourism promotion initiatives.

According to Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel, Viet Nam boasts numerous beautiful destinations but has yet to establish a national tourism brand with strong international recognition.

Therefore, the country needs to take a further step, moving beyond the promotion of individual destinations toward building a consistent, modern, and emotionally engaging national tourism brand.

To achieve this, national tourism promotion activities must be implemented on a long-term, continuous, and targeted basis, with the State, local authorities, and major enterprises working together under a common strategy.

In the digital era, Viet Nam's tourism industry must transform its approach to promotion, moving beyond traditional methods to leverage data, artificial intelligence, digital platforms, content creators, and international partner networks to reach the right markets and customer segments.

To ensure that tourism promotion delivers tangible results, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute for Tourism Economics, stated that Viet Nam needs to establish a list of priority markets for the 2026-2030 period, identifying key short-term markets, markets for expansion, and those requiring long-term preparation. For each market, there should be tailored messaging, flagship tourism products, distribution partners, promotional plans, and performance indicators.

Tourism promotion needs to move beyond conventional marketing toward a conversion-oriented model, incorporating lists of target partners, schedules for business networking, tourism products with indicative prices, multilingual promotional materials, plans for developing air routes, and mechanisms for measuring effectiveness.

Particular attention should be paid to post-promotion follow-up activities. After each tourism fair, roadshow, familiarization trip (famtrip), or forum, there should be a clear list of contacts, product categories, follow-up meeting schedules, and designated personnel responsible for implementation. This would help prevent situations in which promotional campaigns have been completed but tourists cannot find products to book, or businesses lack the capacity to serve the markets targeted by these campaigns.

From the perspective of linking aviation connectivity with market development, Dang Quoc Thang, Head of Vietnam Airlines' Quy Nhon Branch, emphasized the need to establish a regular coordination mechanism among regulatory authorities, airlines, travel companies, and local authorities in selecting target markets for promotional activities and evaluating their effectiveness.

He also recommended prioritizing promotional resources for markets with the potential to support direct air routes and promising emerging markets, thereby generating positive spillover effects for tourism development. Public-private partnership models in international tourism promotion should also be encouraged.

When tourism promotion and marketing are integrated into a well-structured destination development strategy, their effectiveness will extend beyond brand recognition to encompass market expansion and connectivity, generating tangible and sustainable growth for Viet Nam's tourism industry.

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