The target requires the industry to look beyond how many more visitors it can attract and ask how much value each tourist generates for destinations, businesses and the wider economy. Indicators such as spending per visitor, length of stay, satisfaction and repeat-visit rates are therefore becoming increasingly important measures of tourism growth.

The shift was highlighted at the 2026 National Travel Conference, held in Quang Ninh on September 24 under the theme “Innovation – Connectivity – Elevation.” The conference, organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the Quang Ninh administration, focused on implementing the objectives of Politburo Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW dated August 22, 2026, on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector in the new era.

Under Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW and the Government’s action programme, the country aims by 2030 to welcome 45-50 million international visitors, serve 160 million domestic tourists, generate US$80-90 billion in tourism revenue and raise tourism’s direct contribution to GDP to 10-12%. The broader direction is to develop tourism in greater depth, with higher quality, efficiency, sustainability and value added.

From attracting more visitors to creating more value

According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong, the new target requires tourism performance to be assessed not only by visitor numbers but also by economic efficiency and the quality of the visitor experience.

This calls for a restructuring of source markets, identifying visitor groups with greater value-creation potential and developing products that respond to their actual needs.

Vo Anh Tai, deputy general director of Saigontourist Group, proposed developing a target-market assessment system based on multiple indicators, including actual spending per visitor and per night, length of stay, the ability to link multiple destinations, repeat-visit or referral rates, seasonality and the risks associated with dependence on a particular market.

Under this approach, source markets could be divided into different groups based on their roles: core markets that provide a stable flow of visitors, growth markets with substantial room for expansion, and specialised high-value segments. This could help the sector reduce its reliance on rapidly growing but potentially volatile visitor flows.

On the product side, raising tourist spending does not simply mean offering more expensive services. High-spending visitors also value reliability, distinctiveness, convenience and quality commensurate with the price.

Encouraging longer stays requires businesses to design itineraries that connect multiple needs within a single trip, linking urban tourism with beaches, culture with cuisine, and leisure with conferences, events and wellness. When transport, information, booking and payment services are seamlessly connected, visitors have more opportunities to extend their stays and spend more based on their actual needs.

The approach is consistent with the new direction set out in Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, which calls for a major restructuring of tourism from quantity to quality, alongside the development of smart, green and creative tourism and stronger competitiveness.

Data to manage visitor flows and improve destinations

Alongside increasing the value of each trip, the industry also needs to address another challenge that is distributing visitor flows more effectively among destinations.

Nguyen Hong Hai, vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said the lack of a sufficiently robust real-time tourism data system could make it difficult for authorities to manage visitor volumes at destinations facing the risk of overcrowding, even as other destinations in the same region retain substantial capacity.

He proposed improving the architecture and connectivity of tourism data and gradually developing a system capable of monitoring and analysing visitor flows in real time. Destinations with large visitor volumes, such as Sa Pa, Trang An and Ha Long–Cat Ba, could be selected for pilot schemes to manage visitor flows, ease overcrowding and improve the quality of the tourist experience.

Alongside data, green tourism is also becoming part of the effort to raise destination quality. Applying green-tourism criteria across inter-regional tourism product chains, initially in areas with significant environmental and visitor-experience impacts, could provide a pathway toward more sustainable tourism products.

The need for such measures is becoming more apparent as international arrivals continue to rise. In the first eight months of 2026, Vietnam welcomed 15.9 million international visitors, up 14.4% year on year. Revenue from accommodation and catering services reached VND670.3 trillion, up 16.4%, while travel-service revenue stood at VND68.7 trillion, up 17.1%.

The increase in visitor numbers provides a foundation for expanding the industry, but it also underscores the need to improve its ability to absorb and convert visitor flows into economic value. The Government’s action programme likewise emphasises deeper tourism development, higher value added, digital and green transformation, and stronger competitiveness.

From the target of 45-50 million international visitors to US$80-90 billion in tourism revenue, the challenge for the industry in the years ahead is therefore not simply to expand the market. The value generated by each trip, the quality of the visitor experience and the ability to turn first-time visitors into repeat guests will be key to converting growth in visitor numbers into sustainable growth in value.