Scale promotion, affirming the leading position in tourism
Just over 2 weeks before the opening day, the 20th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair (ITE HCMC 2026) has completed preparations, ready to enter the largest-scale event since it was first organized in 2005. ITE HCMC 2026 affirms its role as a leading promotion platform, accompanying the integration process, promoting destinations and enhancing the position of Vietnamese tourism in the international arena.
Taking place from August 27-29 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), ITE HCMC 2026 has the theme "Vibrant Connections - Global Destinations". Compared to the initial phase (2005-2010) which only gathered about 210 exhibition units and 120 international buyers from 18 countries, the 20th edition has made a breakthrough.
This year's fair is expected to attract more than 520 exhibition and brand units, 260 international buyers from more than 40 countries and territories and more than 21,000 B2B trade appointments arranged in advance. The number of trade appointments alone increased more than 8 times compared to the initial phase, affirming the increasing attraction and connectivity efficiency of ITE HCMC with the domestic and international tourism business community. This fair also gathers 34 provinces and cities and about 30,000 visitors.
The highlight of this year's event is that Ho Chi Minh City simultaneously hosted 3 Tourism Ministers' Meetings of the Mekong Subregion. This event continues to affirm the city's role as a regional tourism cooperation connection center, and also a strategic intersection between State diplomacy and tourism trade promotion.
In addition to B2B activities for businesses, ITE HCMC 2026 also expands the experience space to serve the community for 3 days. Here, people and tourists can explore new routes and tourism products, participate in stimulus programs, experience OCOP specialties, regional cuisine and enjoy unique art performances.
Upgrading professionalism, accelerating with MICE tourism and healthcare
According to Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, at this year's fair, in addition to continuing to improve quality through the number of international buyers, expected B2B transactions and the number of participating businesses, the event also clearly shows the international appeal of ITE HCMC.
In addition, conferences and expert seminars have also been strongly increased in both scale and quality with the appearance of regional and ministerial-level forums and international specialized seminars.
In this 20th organization, we aim to further enhance professionalism through international media channels and the participation of international buyers. I expect this to be an important step forward for ITE HCMC to continue to improve its professionalism in the coming time," Mr. Hien Hoa emphasized.
The focus at ITE HCMC this year is to focus on 2 product lines that are advantageous for Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, including MICE tourism and medical tourism.
Ho Chi Minh City has issued policies to support attracting tourist groups to attend conferences, seminars, and exhibitions combined with tourism, creating favorable conditions to attract large groups of tourists. Through ITE HCMC, the city's tourism industry wants to affirm its ability to welcome large-scale MICE tourist groups, demonstrating infrastructure capacity as well as accommodation facilities to be able to continuously welcome international tourist groups in the coming years.
