Show report
Vietnam’ s event trail goes hot
Simon George visits the 19th International Travel Show in Ho Chi Minh City( ITE HCMC) and finds a fast expanding conference and events conduit for growth
nternational Travel Expo
I
Ho Chi Minh City( ITE HCMC 2025) is on a roll, which the growing exhibitor numbers and visitors descending on the Saigon Exhibtion and Convention Centre this( SECC) this September well illustrated.
The 19th edition of Vietnam’ s premier annual travel event, ITE HCMC, threw open its doors to 520 exhibitors, 250 buyers from over 30 countries, representatives of 28 provinces across Vietnam and 28,000 trade visitors at the SECC in Ho Chi Minh City, over three days. The meetings sector was a major part of the show, for which 12,600 B2B appointments were organised between suppliers and buyers.
The event was endorsed by Ho Chi Minh City People’ s Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Tourism minister Mr Nguyen
Van Hung, in his opening speech, said government initiatives were targetted at accelerating Vietnam’ s tourism industry’ s digital and green transition and facilitating a smoother visa regime. He also noted key MICE infrastructure projects nearing completion such as Ho Chi Minh City’ s new airport, Long Thanh International Airport, and a high-speed rail link.
Phuong Anh Nguyen, director of sales and marketing at the Sofitel Saigon Plaza, testified to an effective show time:“ ITE HCMC 2025 brings a wave of fresh energy – testament to Ho Chi Minh City’ s rise on the global MICE stage. From the size of the expo to the meaningful industry connections forged, this year’ s show clearly reflects the growing confidence in Vietnam’ s business events future.”
The city’ s strategic focus is on developing MICE infrastructure and
Right: Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, director of the
Ho Chi Minh City Department of
Tourism
Left: ITE HCMC2025 welcomed 520 exhibitors and 28,000 trade visitors to the SECC in September
Nguyen said Sofitel Saigon Plaza had been part of that journey for years.
First-time buyer at ITE HCMC, Marie Kaalund Winther, managing director of Lotusrejser, a new brand by a Danish travel agency focusing on the southeast Asian market, admitted to being surprised by the sheer size of the expo.
“ My challenge has been to get to all my meetings on time because not all of them are held in the same section( of the exhibition centre).” She did qualify that by acknowledging the exhibition’ s“ amazing” volunteers who helped her navigate the event and praised the quality of meetings held.“ The sellers were genuinely interested and they know the market, so you could have a decent dialogue.”
As the number of exhibitors and buyers shows, ITE HCMC 2025 is expanding apace and a conduit for economic growth – all with government buy-in.
The backdrop to push forward the local meetings and events offer internationally comes off the back of a rising economy and big strides in the leisure market. Vietnam’ s GDP is forecast to grow from 8.3 % currently to 8.5 % in 2026 and inbound visitors are on the rise. The number of international visitors to Vietnam in August was estimated at 1.68m, 16.5 % up year-onyear, according to Vietnam’ s National Tourism Administration. In the January-August period, it is estimated that there were 13.9m visitors, c. 22 % up year-on-year, with China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan the biggest inbound markets.
The Ho Chi Minh City trail towards the goal of increased volume of international events would appear to be being paved with more than just intent. EW
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