Hanoi, Saturday, 29 November 2025.
Vietnam’s international arrivals jumped sharply in 2025 as the United States joined traditional feeders such as China, India, Japan and South Korea, creating an acute demand shock for leisure infrastructure. Hanoi recorded a 22.1% year‑on‑year rise in arrivals in the first 11 months, while tourism revenue climbed about 20.7%, underscoring both volume and yield growth. For retail and F&B concessionaires, the immediate effect is higher peak traffic and stronger demand for midscale to upscale offerings; for developers and theme‑park operators, feasibility for greenfield projects and expansions materially improves. Short‑term priorities include revising capacity plans, securing distribution partnerships and airline connectivity, and stress‑testing workforce pipelines. Medium‑term considerations focus on navigating local land‑use rules, incentives that affect cost of capital, and embedding sustainability to meet regulatory and guest expectations. The strategic imperative for retail professionals: convert transient spikes into repeat visitors and per‑capita spend through targeted segmentation, loyalty offers and retail experiences.
Tourism shock reshapes leisure demand in Vietnam
Vietnam’s visitor economy entered 2025 with a pronounced demand shock that is already altering the investment calculus for leisure and themed-entertainment projects: Hanoi recorded a 22.1% year‑on‑year increase in international visitors in the first 11 months and the country reported VND 120.6 trillion in tourism revenue — a rise of 20.7% for the same period — signalling simultaneous volume and yield growth that compresses near‑term capacity constraints for parks, attractions and hospitality [1].
New source markets — and why the US matters
Longstanding feeder markets such as China, India, Japan and South Korea remain central, but 2025 has seen the United States emerge as an increasingly important source market — a shift that matters for product mix, length of stay and spend profiles and that strengthens cross‑border commercial ties between US travel trade and Vietnamese operators [1][2].
Operators and developers are facing immediate, practical pressures: higher peak‑season attendance that drives the need for revised capacity planning, more midscale and upscale themed‑hotel room demand, and accelerated feasibility for greenfield and expansion projects — all while distribution and airline connectivity must be secured to translate source‑market interest into predictable arrival patterns [1][3].
Policy and regulatory shifts that affect project timelines
Two policy trends are materially relevant for developers evaluating project timelines and cost of capital: Vietnam’s new golden‑visa framework — launched in its first, five‑year ‘talent visa’ phase in August 2025 — is designed to attract skilled professionals and, more broadly, make longer stays easier for some foreign talent and investors; and targeted government pilot programs are expanding regulated, taxable entertainment options, for example the inclusion of The Grand Ho Tram in a five‑year gaming pilot that expands licensed, domestic gaming access under strict rules — both measures reshape permitting, workforce mobility and commercial opportunity for integrated resorts and large entertainment assets [4][6].
Commercial and capital implications for investors
Record tourism inflows and rising U.S. trade‑level engagement create a more favourable risk‑return profile for investors in Vietnam’s leisure sector: higher visitation improves near‑term revenue projections and can accelerate investment appetite for IP‑licensed attractions, mixed‑use precincts and concession‑heavy models. At the same time, cross‑border trade growth between the US and Vietnam underlines deeper economic integration — Vietnam’s exports to the US reached US$126.16 billion in the first ten months of 2025, up 28% year‑on‑year — which strengthens commercial confidence but also ties financing and supply chains to global cycles [5]. To illustrate the magnitude of that trade growth in baseline terms, prior‑year exports implied by a 28% increase can be represented algebraically as 98.563 using figures reported by trade analysts [5].
Operational priorities: workforce, sustainability and guest segmentation
Beyond capital decisions, practical priorities for park operators include scaling a bilingual and seasonally flexible workforce, embedding sustainability and responsible‑gaming frameworks to meet both regulatory expectations and international brand standards, and refining guest segmentation to convert transient visitation spikes into repeat business and higher per‑capita spend through loyalty and tailored retail/F&B experiences — practices already highlighted by integrated‑resort operators participating in government pilot programs [6][1].
Seasonality and product timing
Seasonality remains relevant for design and phasing: Vietnam’s peak outbound and inbound travel windows and regional weather patterns concentrate visitor traffic in the November–April corridor, a consideration that affects attraction opening windows, soft‑launch timing and the staging of retail and F&B offer rollouts aimed at maximising yield during high‑demand months [3][1].
Market signals for distribution and air connectivity
Commercial distribution and air connectivity are decisive: park developers and operators should prioritise partnerships with international tour operators and route‑focused airlines to secure seat inventory from growing markets — a practical necessity given the scale of recent arrivals and the geographic diversification of source markets documented in national tourism reporting [1][5].
What the Grand Ho Tram inclusion signals for the sector
The Vietnamese government’s decision to include The Grand Ho Tram in the expanded five‑year gaming pilot is an important sectoral signal: it demonstrates official willingness to experiment with regulated entertainment models inside integrated resorts, while requiring operators to implement responsible‑gaming measures, on‑site support and staff training — practices that will become a de‑facto compliance baseline for any large‑scale entertainment development seeking domestic market participation [6].
Context from national tourism authorities
National promotion and coordination remain central to converting demand into sustainable visitation: the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism continues to coordinate global promotion and product development efforts, an organisational anchor for aligning regional marketing, infrastructure planning and private‑sector investment that operators will need to engage with when seeking incentives, permits or cooperative marketing support [7].
Bronnen