A booth introducing tourism products from Malaysia at the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) Hanoi 2025. Photo: VNA   

As global competition for tourism market share intensifies, international travel fairs are increasingly proving to be an effective platform for promoting destinations and forging partnerships, helping elevate Vietnam’s presence on the global tourism map.

ITB Berlin in Germany, one of the world’s largest tourism exhibitions, attracts thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. The 2026 edition, held from March 3 to 5, gathered about 6,000 exhibitors from more than 160 countries and territories.

Meanwhile, WTM London in the UK generates billions of US dollars each year through contracts and cooperation agreements signed at the event. The 2025 edition welcomed over 4,000 exhibitors from nearly 180 countries and territories, along with more than 46,000 visitors in just three days.

Across Asia, major travel fairs such as the China International Travel Mart, ITB Asia, and Tourism Japan Expo are emerging as vibrant networking hubs, strengthening regional tourism links while expanding global cooperation opportunities.

In Vietnam, international tourism fairs have increasingly taken on a clearer and more strategic role in recent years. A prominent example is the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) Hanoi, held annually since 2013. The inaugural event drew nearly 400 enterprises from 18 countries and territories while the 2025 edition hosted 668 businesses from 16 markets, facilitating 14,500 business meetings and attracting nearly 95,000 visitors.

The International Travel Expo (ITE) Ho Chi Minh City has likewise become a stepping stone of tourism promotion. With more than two decades of development, the event continues to serve as a gateway connecting Vietnam’s tourism industry with regional and global markets.

Held from September 3 to 6, 2025, ITE HCMC recorded more than 20,000 business meetings between international buyers and participating organisations, nearly half of which resulted in successful agreements. The event drew around 46,100 visitors, including over 35,500 trade participants and more than 10,500 public attendees, highlighting the growing capacity of travel fairs in Vietnam to generate tangible and sustainable market value.

Despite encouraging progress, experts note that clearer strategies are needed to substantively attract a higher proportion of international buyers, shifting the focus from increasing numbers to targeting the right markets and segments.

Nguyen Thi Hoa Mai, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT), said travel fairs should further strengthen national tourism branding through unified exhibition spaces that present Vietnam’s tourism identity in a consistent and professional manner. Stronger coordination led by state management agencies is also essential, particularly in inviting international tourism organisations and travel companies, to enhance the fairs’ global reach.

Under the theme “Digital Transformation and Green Growth – Elevating Vietnam’s Tourism”, VITM Hanoi 2026 is being held from April 9 to 12 at the Hanoi International Exhibition Centre, drawing significant attention from tourism stakeholders.

The event features 450 booths representing domestic and international tourism promotion agencies, airlines, international tourism organisations, and more than 600 enterprises from 15 countries and territories. A key highlight is the business-to-business (B2B) networking programme on April 9, expected to attract 350–400 buyers, including around 150 international travel companies and 200 Vietnamese tourism enterprises, for meetings, information exchanges and partnership signings.

Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said organising a B2B-focused fair is considerably more complex than consumer-oriented events as it requires careful market targeting, precise partner matching, and proactive engagement with international businesses. Nevertheless, this year’s VITM places B2B connectivity at its core, with participation from travel operators in key and emerging markets such as Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and India.

Binh added that in late 2025, the association invited around 500 international travel executives to conduct familiarisation trips across Vietnam. Following these visits, many partners quickly began sending tourists to the country, contributing to strong international visitor growth in the first two months of 2026. Rapidly expanding markets such as the Philippines and India continue to receive priority attention, reflected in the participation of numerous travel enterprises from these countries at the fair./.