The Insiders Forum: The impetus for Vietnam's tourism to break through in the new era.

Hotlist Travellive Editor's Pick is an annual project by Travellive Media Group, aiming to honor pioneering brands, individuals, and initiatives in Vietnam's tourism and hospitality industry. Following the success of previous seasons, HOTLIST 2025 returns with the journey "From Seed to Rice," inspired by the rice grain as a metaphor for the enduring vitality and prosperity of the Vietnamese people, while also reflecting the formation, development, and breakthrough of the tourism and hospitality industry in the era of innovation.

Against the backdrop of significant changes in the tourism industry, on the afternoon of January 7th at Sheraton Hanoi West, The Insiders Forum Hanoi, part of HOTLIST 2025, brought together over 300 guests, including ambassadors and diplomatic representatives, senior leaders, international experts, business representatives, partners, academics, and media outlets in the tourism, hospitality, and luxury service sectors.

The new stature of key economic sectors

2025 is projected to be a pivotal year, with total tourism revenue in Vietnam expected to exceed 1 trillion VND, representing a 19% increase compared to 2024. This is not only the highest figure in the industry's history but also a testament to the rapid and strong recovery of Vietnamese tourism after the restructuring period.

However, behind the quantitative growth, the tourism industry is facing a qualitative test. Changes in tourist behavior after the pandemic have forced managers and businesses to restructure the entire value chain. In this context, The Insiders Forum – a workshop within the framework of Travellive Media Group's HOTLIST Travellive Editor's Pick program – has emerged as a strategic dialogue platform to address the challenging problems of the market.

Looking back over 35 years and the challenges ahead.

One of the highlights of the forum was the participation of Mr. Kenneth Atkinson (Pham Kien Son), who has been involved with and witnessed the transformation of Vietnamese tourism for over 35 years. Sharing his insights at the event, Mr. Kenneth painted a comprehensive picture from the early days of opening up to its current position.

According to Mr. Atkinson, in the early 1990s, Vietnam's tourism industry started from very low levels: limited international visitor numbers, inadequate aviation infrastructure, and only a handful of internationally-standard hotels in major cities. However, fundamental changes such as the opening of the skies, international air connectivity, and the entry of global hotel brands laid the groundwork for the subsequent period of strong growth. Based on visitor growth data from 2000 to 2025, Mr. Atkinson believes that Vietnam's tourism market is among the fastest-growing markets in the region. However, he also emphasized that growth in quantity cannot be the sole objective. As the market expands rapidly, pressure on infrastructure, service quality, destination branding, and sustainability will become increasingly evident.

Referring to the Covid-19 period, Mr. Atkinson acknowledged it as an unprecedented test of the tourism industry's resilience. Vietnam's early reopening, coupled with flexible policies, helped the industry quickly regain its growth momentum, even surpassing many regional markets in terms of recovery speed. However, the post-Covid period also demands restructuring. Instead of returning to the old development model, Vietnamese tourism needs to take advantage of this time to adjust its strategy, focusing on higher-value segments with the potential for long-term impact.

In his analysis of growth drivers, Mr. Atkinson pointed out the key roles of aviation, visa policies, infrastructure investment, and the extensive involvement of international hotel groups. Alongside these are existing challenges such as increasingly fierce destination competition, limited marketing budgets, the challenge of national brand positioning, and the need for digital transformation in tourism management.

Decoding the drivers of niche growth

Besides the policy and infrastructure barriers pointed out by Kenneth Atkinson, the workshop also delved into exploiting high value-added segments, areas where Vietnam is considered to possess significant competitive advantages but has not been adequately exploited. To solve this competitive challenge, experts at the forum pointed to a direction focused on niche markets, where value lies not in quantity but in understanding customer psychology.

In this context, medical and wellness tourism is seen as a potential development axis, as the domestic healthcare system becomes increasingly完善 (perfected), combined with the rise of integrated resort complexes for health recovery and care, aiming to form a comprehensive care ecosystem for tourists.

In the MICE and destination wedding tourism sectors, experts believe the competition is no longer about scale or cost. Instead, creating unique experiences closely linked to the destination's identity and emotional appeal is key to attracting high-spending travelers.

Meanwhile, the concept of next-generation luxury was also redefined at the forum. The luxury segment is no longer limited to material extravagance, but rather encompasses a high level of personalization, insightful understanding of customer data, and a clear commitment to sustainable development—elements that are gradually becoming the new standard for global luxury travel.

Explaining the power of this trend, Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc - Director of Food and Beverage and Director of Operations at BIM Group Hospitality shared: “When we buy a new premium product, of course we feel good and gain social status. But when experiencing personalization, when time and investment are spent adjusting the service to individual preferences - the body reacts in a very different way. Hormones such as dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin, and serotonin are released, turning that experience into a memorable and highly addictive event. Therefore, customers will tend to return more often, spend more, and seek out that same experience again.” This is the key to attracting and retaining high-end customer segments through data insights and emotional engagement.

From "sowing seeds" to "harvesting"

Throughout the discussions, The Insiders Forum 2025 showed that Vietnamese tourism is entering a "harvesting" phase, as the foundations built over many years begin to yield results. However, for this journey to be sustainable, the industry needs a long-term development mindset, based on value and quality rather than just chasing growth rates.

Having just taken place in Hanoi and scheduled to continue in Ho Chi Minh City on January 19th, the forum brought together over 300 guests and experts from the Asia-Pacific region, affirming its role as a platform for in-depth dialogue, connecting the Vietnamese tourism community and contributing to shaping long-term directions in the context of integration.

Nhat Minh