Realizing "One Journey, Three Destinations
On August 26, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism chaired the first Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Tourism Ministers' Conference. The conference was held at the same time as the 20th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair (ITE HCMC 2026), marking the official establishment of a ministerial-level tourism cooperation mechanism between the three countries.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh said that the conference is a particularly important milestone to concretize the direction agreed upon by the Prime Ministers of Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam at the meeting on May 22, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City on promoting the establishment of a three-Minister of Tourism cooperation mechanism to implement the "One Journey, Three Destinations" initiative.
On the basis of long-standing traditional friendly neighborly relations, with many similar potentials and advantages and complementing each other to develop tourism, sharing the Mekong River, possessing unique cultural and natural heritage, and a system of road, river, and air transportation connecting more and more conveniently, the three countries Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam fully meet the conditions to build a common destination with its own identity, attractive and highly competitive on the regional and international tourism map.
The number of tourists to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is continuously increasing. In 2025, the total number of international visitors to the three countries reached 31.3 million, an increase of about 10% compared to 2024 and is still maintaining a growth trend. This shows that there is still great room and potential for cooperation to be exploited together, especially for intra-regional tourists and international tourists traveling to the three countries on the same journey.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh said that Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam tourism cooperation needs to be built with a long-term vision, towards positioning the brand "One Journey, Three Destinations" to become a unique common tourism product, making practical contributions to the sustainable and inclusive development goals of the entire region.
Infrastructure and tourism service advantages from the leading city
At the conference, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc said that Ho Chi Minh City is clearly aware of its responsibilities as well as existing advantages to actively and deeply participate in this connection process.
As a large city, leading economic, commercial, tourism and international exchange center of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City possesses convenient aviation connectivity infrastructure, a wide network of links with many international markets, and at the same time, is a gathering place for a large number of travel, aviation, accommodation and tourism services businesses.
Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City hopes not only to be a stopover in the heritage journey of the three countries, but also to become a strategic connecting center, connecting the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam travel journey with key international markets through border gates, air, road and national tourist routes.
If these links are organized synchronously, more convenient in terms of information, product structure, transportation methods as well as general promotion work, we can completely transform the "One Journey, Three Destinations" initiative from a promotional message into a specific tourism product set with high competitiveness in the global market" - Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assessed.
