Ho Chi Minh City is putting its growing creator economy on centre stage. The city's Department of Culture and Sports announced the 2026 Digital Content Creator Week at a press conference on November 9, staging the main event on November 13 and 14 around the Nguyễn Huệ pedestrian street, with livestreams running on digital platforms from November 9 to 13.
The timing is no accident: the week feeds into Vietnam Culture Day and the 50th anniversary of Sài Gòn-Gia Định being renamed after President Hồ Chí Minh on July 2, 1976. It runs under the theme "Unlimited Creativity – Connecting the City's Values".
What's actually happening? Plenty. Big platforms including TikTok, YouTube and Meta will run technology experience spaces alongside local media and tech organisations, and there are training sessions on content regulations, cultural standards, production skills and AI tools. The headline moment for anyone who cares about policy is a November 14 dialogue between city leaders and the creative community at the Rex Saigon Hotel, aimed squarely at unblocking the red tape and practical problems facing creators and digital businesses.
The city isn't shy about why it's doing this. Deputy culture director Nguyễn Ngọc Hồi argued that content creators now do far more than entertainment — they promote products, connect businesses with consumers and support trade, tourism and the digital economy. TikTok Việt Nam's general director Nguyễn Lâm Thanh was candid that the city's creator scene is dynamic but fragmented, and that government, brands and creators need a shared space to actually collaborate. He's hoping this week becomes the start of something permanent rather than a one-off.
There's also a competition with real scope. The "Proud of the City Named after President Hồ Chí Minh" digital content contest opens to the public and creators on November 15, 2026, running until March 31, 2027. Entrants are asked to tell stories about the city's culture, people, identity and development — think destinations, local products, street life, urban change. There are two collective and five individual prizes, with top winners in line for certificates of merit from the chairman of the municipal People's Committee. The stated hope: that creators become the city's storytellers, showing an authentic Ho Chi Minh City to audiences at home and abroad.
Why should a traveller care? If you're in the city in mid-November, Nguyễn Huệ — already one of the most atmospheric walking streets in District 1 — will be hosting free tech showcases, performances and creator activity, a good window into how young urban Vietnam presents itself to the world. And for travel creators, the week signals that Vietnamese authorities are actively courting digital storytellers as partners in promoting tourism. The competition is also an open invitation: your Saigon footage could win official recognition.
For everyone else, it's a useful signal of where Ho Chi Minh City is heading — a city banking on creators, platforms and culture working together, and doing it in one of its most public, walkable spaces.
