Gia Lai seeks new growth momentum for tourism
After the merger, Gia Lai became a locality with an area of more than 21,000 km2, a population of over 3.5 million people, owning space stretching from the Central Highlands to the South Central Coast. The expansion of territorial boundaries not only creates more resources but also poses the requirement to build products that are strong enough to connect regions, extend the length of stay and increase tourist spending.
If the West stands out with the gong and chieng cultural space, mountains and forests, ethnic minority villages, farms and exploration routes, the East has the sea, islands, seaports and a system of heritage such as Tay Son, Bai Choi, Hat Boi and traditional martial arts. The combination of the great forest and sea opens up opportunities to form continuous journeys, connecting natural, cultural and resort experiences in the same destination.
That is also the direction chosen by Gia Lai when implementing the 2026 National Tourism Year with the theme "Gia Lai - The Great Forest Touches the Blue Sea".
According to the province's report, in the first 6 months of 2026, Gia Lai welcomed about 8.75 million visitors, an increase of 19% compared to the same period last year and completed 58.3% of the annual plan. Of which, international visitors reached 129,300, an increase of 78.6%, and domestic visitors reached more than 8.62 million, an increase of 18.4%.
Total revenue from tourists reached about 19,010 billion VND, completing the 6-month plan and equal to 54.3% of the full-year target. On average, each visitor brought in about 2.17 million VND in revenue.
The rise of the tourism industry also led to the recovery of many service sectors. Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue reached more than 108,000 billion VND, up 12.5% over the same period; accommodation and catering revenue increased by 15.1%, while passenger transport increased by 23.3%.
These figures show that the National Tourism Year has created more momentum for the market. However, along with the goal of increasing the number of visitors, Gia Lai is also facing the problem of how to make tourists stay longer, spend more and return, instead of just stopping at short tours.
Reality shows that landscape advantages or natural resources are no longer enough factors to create differentiation. Many localities own seas, forests, heritage and unique culture, while most destination images can be easily accessed through digital platforms.
Therefore, besides investing in infrastructure, Gia Lai is gradually adding products that can enhance the experience for tourists. In the first half of the year, the locality developed more food streets, night markets, cruise tourism, Café Farm tours, community tourism in Mo Hra - Dap village, western ecological routes, weekend gong programs, trekking products, agricultural tourism and nature experience.
These products are expected to contribute to overcoming the long-standing limitations of many destinations: having resources but lacking experiential activities, having scenic spots but not enough products to keep tourists overnight, thereby creating additional revenue for people and related service industries.
Music and reality shows create more reasons for tourists to set off
In addition to renewing tourism products, Gia Lai also chooses to include cultural, musical and entertainment events in the destination promotion strategy. Instead of just introducing landscapes through videos or promotional fairs, the locality aims to create real-world experiences, thereby spreading the image of the destination on digital platforms.
In the context that tourists can easily find information about destinations on social networks, young people are interested in activities, events and stories that are enough to motivate them to set off at a specific time.
That is also the reason why many localities recently continuously organize music festivals, sports events, art programs or large-scale experiential activities to create "date points" for tourists. Gia Lai is also following this approach.
One of the highlights is the Mega Concert "Gia Lai - The Great Forest Touches the Blue Sea", held at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square within the framework of the opening ceremony of the National Tourism Year 2026. The program attracted more than 70,000 people and tourists.
According to provincial statistics, in the period from March 23-30, the Opening Week of the National Tourism Year welcomed about 600,000-650,000 visitors, equivalent to nearly 7% of the total number of visitors in the first 6 months of the year but concentrated in 8 days. On average, each day, the locality welcomes about 75,000-81,250 visitors, significantly higher than the average of the entire period.
Not only creating attraction at the time of its opening, the opening series also contributed to increasing Gia Lai's recognition on media platforms. According to local statistics, in the first 6 months of the year, there were nearly 3,000 news and articles about the National Tourism Year and tourism activities of the province.
The Opening Week alone recorded 1,262 news and articles, accounting for about 42% of the total information volume. The program is also broadcast live on VTV1, VTV8 and connected to 25 local radio and television stations.
On social networks, according to Socialite, Mega Concert recorded 39,412 discussions, ranking in the top three most interested events of the week. Meanwhile, Kompa ranked the program fourth in the top 10 outstanding brand events from March 23-29.
After the opening ceremony, Gia Lai continues to appear in the reality TV show "Say Hi Rực Rỡ", with the participation of many young artists. The program integrates landscapes, culture and local life into entertainment content released on many digital platforms.
According to published data, after 6 episodes aired, the program is often in the group of three gameshows with high discussion volume, each episode exceeding 1 million views, total views on platforms reaching more than 128 million.
In addition, content related to Gia Lai and the National Tourism Year on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and Instagram recorded more than 21.7 million views and about 3.3 million followers and interactions.
However, the indicators of views, discussion level or interaction on social networks only reflect the effectiveness of communication. The real impact of programs on the number of visitors, stay or spending of tourists still needs more time to evaluate.
However, the way Gia Lai combines tourism product development with cultural, music and digital content events shows a change in destination promotion thinking.
Instead of just introducing what is available, the locality is proactively creating more experiences and stories to attract public attention, thereby expanding opportunities to bring the image of the destination closer to domestic and international tourists.
