Deep experience trend leads the market
No longer just a familiar transit point for the Southeast Asian journey, Ho Chi Minh City is gradually becoming a place that international tourists choose to stay longer to explore.
I stayed here for a few days to walk, eat and learn about city history. Each area has its own story that makes me want to stay longer" - Ms. Annie (Australian tourist) shared.
From the perspective of a tourism business, Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing - Communications Director of Vietluxtour Company, noted a clear shift from traditional sightseeing tourism to deep experiential tourism and associated with urban identity. For international tourists, instead of just stopping for a short time, many tourists from Europe, America, and Australia are spending longer stays (an average of 2.5 - 3 days) to explore unique cultural and historical values.
In the business customer segment, MICE tourism is booming in the trend of combining conferences with heritage experiences, and at the same time, prioritizing products associated with sustainable development to meet ESG criteria. Meanwhile, domestic customers still maintain the need for staycation but have higher requirements for uniqueness and service quality.
Notably, the helicopter tour to see Ho Chi Minh City from above has just resumed operation, positioned in the high-end segment. Representatives of VinaGroup Tourism Company said that the product is aimed at groups of customers living and working in the city, tourists staying in Vung Tau and especially international tourists. This product also contributes to increasing connectivity between Ho Chi Minh City and the Ba Ria - Vung Tau area before, expanding the exploitation of the inter-regional resort service chain.
Shaping products with technology and regional linkages
From market practice, Ms. Bao Thu believes that the city's tourism industry needs to promote the digitization of heritage and experiences through technology applications such as VR, AR at historical destinations, creating digital museums with high interactivity. In addition, the city needs to develop a chain of specialized night economic products with high-quality art programs combined with river cuisine, thereby increasing spending of high-end tourists.
Another important direction is to build communication strategies according to each market segment instead of mass promotion, and at the same time, strengthen regional linkages and develop MICE tourism. With infrastructure advantages and the position of an economic center, Ho Chi Minh City has great potential to become a leading destination for large-scale events and conferences.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, in 2026, the city will continue to implement the tourism development project to 2030, focusing on improving product quality and diversification, towards typical product lines of the big city. The tourism industry aims to welcome about 11 million international visitors, 50 million domestic visitors, with total estimated revenue of 330,000 billion VND.
