Quang Ninh’s tourism industry is increasingly developing with top quality as a priority. Moving beyond traditional products, the province is gradually creating a high-end tourism ecosystem featuring luxury resorts and personalized experiences.
Late last April, Sun Group and Hilton opened Hilton Quang Hanh Onsen Resort in Quang Ninh. Managed by Hilton, the resort comprises 178 villas, 38 Japanese-standard rooms and a public onsen hot-bathing area. In particular, Hilton has added exclusive premium brand amenities at the Clubhouse—a complex comprising Eforea Spa, an indoor mountain-facing swimming pool, a 24/7 fitness center, yoga facilities, a restaurant and more—to enhance guests’ resort, entertainment and wellness experiences.
Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Viet Dung affirmed: Quang Ninh always prioritizes the development of high-quality, distinctive and sustainable resort products. Sun Group’s introduction of the Hilton brand to Quang Ninh has provided the province with an important foundation for the tourism industry to reach a large number of high-end international visitors with high spending capacity and demand for year-round, long-stay travel.
In recent years, Quang Ninh’s tourism appeal has attracted many renowned international hospitality brands, including Accor, InterContinental, Wyndham, Hyatt and Radisson, forming a chain of luxury resorts such as Intercontinental Hạ Long Bay, Vinpearl Hạ Long Bay Resort, Tuan Chau International Resort and Entertainment Complex, FLC Hạ Long Ecotourism Complex and Legacy Yên Tử… In addition, the province possesses many advantages for developing the high-end tourism segment. Not only is it home to the World Natural Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay, but it also has a well-connected infrastructure system featuring interregional expressways, an international cruise passenger port, an international airport and a chain of high-end accommodations stretching from Hạ Long and Cẩm Phả to Vân Đồn and Móng Cái. The province is also strongly expanding product lines aimed at high-spending visitors, such as high-end island and coastal resorts, cruise tourism, golf, wellness retreats, art tourism and MICE…
One of the clearest highlights is the development of golf tourism—a type of tourism considered a “magnet” for attracting affluent visitors. Quang Ninh has now established a system of large-scale golf courses in Hạ Long, Đông Triều, Móng Cái, Tuần Châu and elsewhere, with an orientation toward meeting international standards. Under the plan for the coming period, the province will develop dozens of new golf courses associated with high-end tourism and resort hubs.
In addition, international cruise tourism is opening up significant potential for Quang Ninh to reach high-spending visitors from Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. In the first months of 2026, a succession of international superyachts called at Ha Long International Cruise Port, carrying thousands of foreign visitors. This is a positive sign of recovery and demonstrates Quang Ninh’s increasingly clear position on the high-end cruise map of Southeast Asia.
In reality, Quang Ninh is gradually shifting from exploiting natural resources to drawing on cultural values and experiences. Many new products are being developed to deepen visitors’ emotional experiences, such as a spiritual and cultural journey at Yên Tử, island and coastal ecotourism in Vân Đồn, border experiences in Móng Cái and community-based tourism in mountainous areas inhabited by ethnic minority communities.
Notably, MICE tourism has also been identified as a strategic segment for improving visitor quality. With its modern infrastructure, large hotel system and ability to host international-scale events, Quang Ninh is aiming to become a leading MICE center in northern Vietnam. According to Nguyen Van Hieu, General Director of Vitamin Tours & Event, MICE visitors are a segment that brings very high economic value because of their high spending, long stays and strong potential to return multiple times. More importantly, this type of tourism creates significant spillover effects across numerous sectors, including aviation, transportation, commerce, services and event organization.
In addition, the tourism industry is proactively seeking and tapping into other potential high-end tourism markets, including Russia. Georgiy Chabrov, Regional Executive Director for Southeast Asia at tour operator Fun and Sun, said: Russian visitors typically travel with their families, including young children, and place a high value on privacy. Quang Ninh can fully meet these requirements. In the coming period, we will coordinate with the province to organize fam trips, press trips and visits by Russian KOLs to Quang Ninh to survey the market, destinations and tourism services, and promote Quang Ninh’s culture, tourism and people, thereby building more connections with Russian communities and visitors.
The province has determined that, to “retain” visitors, it needs to create a seamless experience from the moment they arrive at the airport, board a cruise ship and check into a hotel through to recreational, shopping and personal care activities. In addition, the trends toward green tourism and sustainable development are also creating new requirements. Today’s high-end visitors are particularly concerned about environmental factors, local identity and the social responsibility of destinations. This requires Quang Ninh to balance tourism development with resource conservation, while also “shifting” from mass service provision to personalization, and from rapid growth to quality growth. In this way, the province can gradually create a new image for its tourism industry, increase its appeal to high-spending visitors and realize the goal of making Quang Ninh an international tourism center and a leading national tourism destination.
