With outstanding advantages in natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and an increasingly synchronized, modern tourism infrastructure, Quang Ninh continues to affirm its appeal to international visitors. In the first 9 months of 2026, the city welcomed 4.21 million international visitor arrivals, nearing the full-year target of 5.2 million arrivals. This result demonstrates the destination's appeal while creating momentum for Quang Ninh to continue leveraging existing advantages, diversifying products, expanding markets, enhancing competitiveness, and affirming its position on the international tourism map.
Maintaining Destination Appeal
Possessing magnificent natural landscapes, distinctive geological and geomorphological values, and a rich ecosystem, the World Natural Heritage site of Ha Long Bay continues to be a “magnet” attracting international visitors to Quang Ninh.
Along with the appeal of heritage, large-scale cultural and artistic events also contribute to increasing the brand awareness of Quang Ninh tourism. The series of opening and preliminary activities within the framework of the Miss World 2026 pageant held in Quang Ninh in early August was an opportunity to promote the local image while demonstrating the capacity to host major tourism-linked events. Through the outreach of the media and public interest, the image of Quang Ninh has gained further opportunities to reach domestic and international visitors more broadly.
Not stopping at existing advantages, Quang Ninh has been expanding its development space, gradually forming a diverse chain of tourism products such as: cultural and spiritual tourism; sea and island tourism; border tourism; and luxury wellness resort tourism... Currently, new premium product lines have also been put into operation, gradually making a good impression on visitors, especially international travelers, including: the real-scene live performance “In Search of the Pearl Mark” at Ngoc Rong Cave; high-end cruise fleets visiting Ha Long Bay; sightseeing itineraries in Bai Tu Long Bay; and untouched island discovery tours…
International cruise tourism activities continue to show many positive signs. In the final months of the year, international cruise tourism is identified by Quang Ninh as one of the key visitor segments contributing to the growth of the tourism industry. In the first 9 months of 2026, Quang Ninh welcomed 49 international cruise ships with 58,879 passengers, with the third quarter alone welcoming 5 ships with 8,133 passengers, notably welcoming the cruise ship Adora Magic City, which brought more than 5,000 visitors to Quang Ninh for the first time. It is expected that from now until the end of the year, about 30 more international cruise ships will dock at Ha Long International Cruise Port.
To extend tourists' length of stay and enhance their experiences, the Autumn - Winter 2026 tourism stimulus program themed “Quang Ninh City, Reaching Out with Heritage” continues to be implemented through a series of cultural, artistic, sports, and entertainment activities such as: Halo Bay Shows, VuiFest Night Market, Yen Tu Autumn Festival, Binh Lieu Then Festival, Quang Ninh Culinary Festival, art performances, concerts, and the Ha Long Heritage International Marathon...
Along with that, the improvement of physical infrastructure and tourism service capacity continues to expand with 1,370 accommodation establishments and 32,696 rooms; 109 overnight cruise vessels with 1,967 cabins; 213 travel businesses; and 2,442 tour guides.
In particular, Ha Long International Cruise Port was recently honored as Asia's Leading Cruise Port 2026; Van Don International Airport continued to win the title of Asia's Leading Regional Airport 2026 at this year's World Travel Awards (World Travel Awards 2026). In October 2026, Centara Hotel & Residences Van Don (Van Don Special Zone) and Tra Co Long Beach Hotel & Resort (Mong Cai 1 Ward) came into operation, contributing to upgrading the quality of accommodation services at destinations. This affirms the quality of tourism infrastructure, enhances connectivity, and creates favorable conditions for Quang Ninh to access international markets.
Boosting promotion to expand markets
In parallel with improving the quality of products and services, Quang Ninh focuses on promotion and marketing to expand tourism markets. Among these, the markets of Russia and the CIS, Australia, India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia are targeted for development through cooperative activities with the Vietnam Tourism Association, Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, localities, and domestic and international partners.
Accordingly, since the beginning of the year, the city's tourism sector has coordinated with the Ha Noi Department of Tourism and the Ninh Binh Department of Tourism to organize a famtrip program for a delegation of Japanese travel agencies to promote destinations, strengthen cooperative connections, and foster the development of the "Ha Noi - Ninh Binh - Quang Ninh" tour route to the Japanese market; coordinated to welcome an Australian famtrip delegation to survey tourism products and services in the city; and organized a famtrip delegation of 13 CEOs from leading international travel agencies and event organizers specializing in the Indian MICE tourism market to survey Quang Ninh's facilities and tourism products. Along with that, it organized a series of tourism promotion and marketing activities in the capital Beijing and Shanghai city of China; and signed cooperation agreements with Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Fujian Province (China)....
Most recently, on September 24, within the framework of the National Travel Conference and the National Tourism Promotion Conference 2026 organized by Quang Ninh in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, hundreds of travel agencies, media outlets, and tourism partners nationwide participated in a series of famtrip activities, a program introducing Quang Ninh tourism, and business networking sessions.
Mr. Nguyen The Hue, Chairman of the Quang Ninh Tourism Association, said: Accessing multiple markets not only helps reduce dependence on a few traditional source markets, but also creates opportunities to attract visitor segments with varying needs and spending power. Through stepping up the organization of fact-finding survey programs, tourism businesses have the opportunity to experience products and assess destination potential, thereby researching and designing suitable tour routes to bring Quang Ninh tourism to a broader international audience.
The orientation to expand the international visitor market is set within Quang Ninh's long-term tourism development strategy. In April 2025, the City People's Committee approved the Tourism Development Project up to 2030, with a vision to 2045, identifying the goal of making Quang Ninh a tourism hub connecting the region and the world. In particular, boosting the development of world-class resort and healthcare products is identified as one of the key orientations, along with requirements for rational tourism spatial planning, synchronous and modern infrastructure investment, and strengthened regional, national, and international linkages.
In the coming time, along with continuing to host large-scale cultural, sports, and tourism events and promoting the value of traditional festivals, Quang Ninh will strengthen regional linkages and organize survey programs for domestic and international travel businesses, press representatives, and key opinion leaders (KOLs). The focus will not only be on promoting its image, but also on seeking partners, fostering tour route connections, enhancing service quality, and developing products tailored to the needs of each international tourist market.
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