On the afternoon of April 9, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province coordinated to organize the Gia Lai Provincial Tourism Promotion Conference within the framework of the Vietnam International Travel Mart - VITM Hanoi 2026.
Speaking at the opening, Ms. Do Thi Dieu Hanh - Director of Gia Lai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism affirmed that 2026 is an important milestone, opening a new stage of development associated with the implementation of major resolutions, creating a foundation for realizing the aspiration for development in the new era.
According to Ms. Hanh, Gia Lai being chosen to host the 2026 National Tourism Year has special significance, as an opportunity to promote the image of a new Gia Lai on the foundation of linking the highlands and coasts.
“The theme ‘Great forest touches blue sea’ is not only a communication message but also reflects a consistent development orientation, showing the connection between the plateau and the coast, between traditional values and modern development,” she emphasized.
The scale of organizing National Tourism Year 2026 has 6 key events and more than 100 activities. Right in the first quarter of 2026, the locality has coordinated to organize more than 35 events inside and outside the province. In which, the opening week takes place from March 23 to 30 with many activities such as tourism forums, investment promotion conferences, food festivals and art programs that have attracted a large number of people and tourists.
Not only taking advantage of opportunities from national events, Gia Lai also aims to shape a green and sustainable tourism ecosystem. The provincial tourism industry takes the development philosophy "Culture is the root - Nature is strength - People are the center" as the foundation for a long-term strategy.
From the perspective of investment attraction, Gia Lai is committed to strongly improving the business environment, shortening procedure processing time by 30-50%, and applying high incentives on taxes and land rent. At the 2026 investment promotion conference, the locality awarded and signed 273 projects with a total capital of about 850,000 billion VND.
Assessing Gia Lai's development potential, Mr. Vu The Binh - Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association said that Gia Lai is facing a favorable time to make a strong breakthrough.
Gia Lai is facing a great opportunity to break through, especially in the context of being selected to host the National Tourism Year. However, to turn opportunities into a real growth engine, the locality needs to urgently build and develop new tourism products, catching up with market trends," Mr. Binh affirmed.
According to Mr. Binh, cultural tourism needs to be identified as the core foundation, because this is the factor that creates its own identity, while the trend of green tourism is becoming an inevitable requirement.
Gia Lai needs to soon synchronously apply green criteria to destination management, product development and service operation. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on developing human resources, applying technology and promoting digital promotion to improve competitiveness," he emphasized.
Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism - Nguyen Thi Hoa Mai assessed that hosting National Tourism Year 2026 is an important milestone to help reposition Gia Lai's tourism image on the national tourism map. She assessed that Gia Lai has a double advantage and a diverse and multi-layered tourism space, with a full ecosystem of products including ecotourism; sea and resort tourism; cultural and heritage tourism; community tourism.
To achieve that goal, Ms. Mai emphasized: "Gia Lai needs to solve 3 main issues: Focus on building unique tourism products with high competitiveness; clearly positioning the Gia Lai tourism brand in the new context, shifting strongly from traditional promotion to modern marketing; promoting tourism development links in depth and substance, not only between points in the province, but also with localities, neighboring regions and international markets".
Gia Lai's goal is to welcome 15 million visitors in 2026, revenue over 35,000 billion VND, and move towards making tourism a key economic sector by 2030.
With a clear strategy, the companionship of businesses and sustainable development orientation, the "Great Forest Touching the Blue Sea" journey is gradually becoming a reality, opening up opportunities for Gia Lai to rise to become an attractive destination in the region.
