Hanoi (VNA) - Cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City, the southern economic engine, and the culturally rich Northwestern provinces continues to prove effective, with festivals as well as trekking and cultural experience products gradually shaping a distinct tourism brand.
According to information released at the conference reviewing and launching the tourism linkage programme between the expanded Northwest provinces and HCM City for 2026, held in Dien Bien, the region welcomed more than 90 million visitors in 2025, generating tourism revenue of over 341 trillion VND (12.9 billion USD).
In the review report, leaders of Dien Bien Province, the 2025 head of the cooperation group, pointed out a series of “bottlenecks”, including fragmented joint communications, a lack of overseas promotion activities, weak digital infrastructure, and notably the absence of inter-regional tour booking platforms and smart tourism applications. These gaps have prevented Northwest tourism from fully tapping into HCM City’s abundant visitor market.
Delegates at the conference proposed specific solutions to remove these bottlenecks. At the event, the draft plan for 2026, with a focus on developing inter-regional tourism products linking HCM City and the expanded Northwest, received broad consensus.
This plan goes beyond conventional promotion activities, outlining a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap built on five pillars. These include developing a shared digital platform, implementing a digital content strategy (including Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality (VR/AR) and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) engagement), leveraging big data, expanding interactive digital services such as 24/7 chatbots, and training digital-ready human resources.
Amid a strong shift in travel behaviour towards digital platforms and intensifying competition, cooperation between HCM City and the Northwest needs to follow a new direction — flexible, visitor-centric and prioritising digital communication and technology solutions, Le Hoang My Hanh of Green Communications emphasised in her presentation.
Assuming the role of head of the 2026 cooperation group, Standing Vice Chairman of the Son La Provincial People’s Committee Ha Trung Chien affirmed that the province will continue to strengthen cooperation, with particular emphasis on digitalisation solutions to enhance connectivity with the southern market.
The digital transformation orientation has been clearly translated into action in the 2026 cooperation plan issued by Son La province. A key focus is the development of a shared smart tourism digital platform for the entire cooperation group, interconnected with the information portals of individual localities.
The plan also highlights practical initiatives such as organising online tourism video clip contests, training promotional staff in technology applications (AI, ChatGPT), and notably bringing the Northwest Cultural Essence Festival “Colours of Son La” to HCM City, a major event aimed at directly promoting destinations and strengthening market connections.
These measures demonstrate that, from vision to action, 2026 is expected to be a breakthrough year in realising the digitalisation strategy, translating proposals into concrete products and services that offer new experiences for visitors and generate tangible economic benefits for the entire region.
From Dien Bien in 2025 to Son La in 2026, tourism cooperation in the Northwest has undergone a clear shift, from product development and event organisation towards the creation of a shared “digital ecosystem”. The goal is not only to attract visitors, but also to deliver seamless, personalised and easily accessible experiences, from information search and tour booking to post-trip feedback./.
