Ho Chi Minh City tourism recorded impressive growth during the 2026 Lunar New Year when both the number of visitors and revenue increased sharply. Total tourism revenue is estimated at 12,150 billion VND, an increase of 42.9% compared to the 2025 Lunar New Year, creating momentum for the 2026 growth target.
The driving force for growth comes not only from the peak season effect but also from the advantage of expanded urban space after the merger. The expansion of boundaries and urban structure creates more room for product development, diversifies experiences and extends the length of stay of tourists.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Man - Deputy General Director of VinaGroup Travel Company said that no city in Vietnam has the advantage of multi-structure - multi-landscape - multi-driver development like Ho Chi Minh City today. The attraction of a new creative city lies in its unprecedented diversity, allowing tourists to feel the dynamism, innovation and continuity of a Southeast Asian-level megacity.
In 2026, Mr. Man expects the city to complete multimodal connectivity infrastructure. At the same time, form regional-level tourism service centers. Including high-quality river passenger pick-up and drop-off wharves, new conference and exhibition centers, along with nighttime economic spaces, food streets, and pedestrian streets to be expanded according to the new urban structure.
Service infrastructure is the foundation for tourism to take off" - Mr. Man said.
At the same time, businesses hope that the city will soon have a special mechanism for tourism in the super-urban model, prioritizing the development of creative tourism, effectively exploiting the night economy and attracting investment to create typical products of Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr. Pham Huy Binh - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that Ho Chi Minh City has become a large-scale unified city, with a more open tourism space, richer resources, and more diverse cooperation opportunities. This also requires a broad vision and closer coordination.
Therefore, the city's tourism industry enters a new phase with the determination to develop products bearing the imprint of identity, pioneering digital transformation and building a professional culture, tourism ethics, and hospitality as core values.
In the new development phase, tourism is not just a single economic sector but an experiential ecosystem. Vision to 2030, Ho Chi Minh City aims to become a smart tourism city, where indigenous cultural identity is preserved and spread by modern technological power.
