Vietnam is on track for another record year. More than 17.7 million international visitors arrived in the first nine months of 2026, up 14.5% on the previous year, with September alone drawing 1.77 million arrivals — a 16.1% jump. That puts the country at roughly 71% of its annual target of 25 million foreign visitors.
But the government and industry bodies aren't celebrating yet. They're arguing that growth built mostly on natural scenery and rising visitor counts can't last, especially with geopolitical uncertainty, higher transport and energy costs, and stiffer competition from other destinations. The answer, they say, is digital transformation: artificial intelligence, data and better connectivity woven into how destinations are run and how businesses sell.
Vũ Thế Bình, chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, points out that AI is already reshaping how travellers research, choose and book trips. On the business side, it can be used to spot market trends, personalise offers, forecast visitor flows and manage pricing. Applied well, digital tools can also help popular destinations spread out crowds, cut energy use and protect the environments that draw people in the first place.
There's a policy backbone too: Politburo Resolution 57-NQ/TW, issued in December 2024, sets a national framework for science, technology and digital transformation, and tourism is expected to follow. Nguyễn Anh Tuấn of the Institute for Tourism Economics has proposed a national digital tourism ecosystem built on open data, linking government agencies, companies and travellers, with smart tourism tied to green growth.
The obstacles are real, though. Vietnam's tourism data is fragmented and sharing between stakeholders is patchy. Most tourism businesses are small or medium-sized enterprises with tight budgets, and people who understand tourism, data and AI at the same time are scarce. Fixing that will take better data infrastructure, closer cooperation between the public and private sectors, and funding and training for smaller operators.
Why should travellers care? Because this shift will eventually show up in your trip: smarter crowd management at places like Hoi An or Ha Long Bay, more personalised tour options, smoother online booking, and services that respond faster to what visitors actually want. It's also a signal that Vietnam is trying to grow tourism without wearing out its beaches, cities and heritage sites — good news for anyone planning to visit in the coming years.
For the industry, the message is that technology alone won't fix things; a connected system where data moves freely between agencies and businesses is the real goal. For visitors, it means Vietnam is working to stay one of Southeast Asia's best-value, most rewarding destinations — and to keep it that way.
