October 2025

Once again Ho Chi Minh City was honoured at the World Travel Awards reaffirming, its position, as one of Asia’s leading destinations with four prestigious titles Asia’s Leading Business Travel Destination 2025, Asia’s Leading Festival & Event Destination 2025, Asia’s Leading City Tourist Board 2025, and Asia’s Leading Coastal City Break Destination 2025.

The continuous recognition of Ho Chi Minh City at the “Oscars of the global travel industry” is a powerful testament to the city’s prestige, attractiveness, and sustainable growth potential.

This success reflects not only the city’s ongoing efforts to improve service quality and diversify tourism products, but also highlights its image as a dynamic, modern, and creative metropolis that remains deeply rooted in cultural identity – a unique strength that continues to captivate both domestic and international visitors.

Notably, Vung Tau previously part of Ba Ria, is a province and now under Ho Chi Minh City following recent administrative reorganisation was recognised for the first time as ‘Asia’s Leading Coastal City Break Destination 2025’.

This milestone further enhances, the image of Vietnam’s coastal and island tourism, while expanding the visibility of Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism brand across the region and the world.

Alongside Ho Chi Minh City’s outstanding achievements, Vietnam was also honored with two prestigious titles at the World Travel Awards 2025: Asia’s Leading Destination 2025 for the 7th time and Asia’s Leading Heritage Destination 2025 the 3rd time.

The four prestigious awards not only honour the city’s relentless efforts toward sustainable tourism development, but also mark an important milestone in promoting the ‘Vibrant Ho Chi Minh City’ brand an inviting, friendly, and dynamic destination, confidently moving forward with the global tourism industry’s robust growth.

At the opening of the ITB Asia 2025 in Singapore, the show created a new milestone when Messe Berlin Asia Pacific and Tripadvisor Singapore Pte Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop the Experience Pavilion, which will debut at ITB Asia 2026.

“We saw over 11 million experiences booked on our sites (including Viator) in the first half of 2025, which is a 15 percent YoY increase and we’re expecting that trend will continue for the remainder of the year and into 2026,” said Mr. Scott Wegener, director of sales (APAC), Tripadvisor.

The Experience Pavilion will highlight the power of experiential travel, spanning adventure, culture, wellness, culinary tourism and more, and will provide a platform for exhibitors to inspire, engage, and connect with buyers and media.

Tripadvisor will co-curate the Pavilion’s theme and content framework, leveraging its global network to bring together selected experience-focused providers, while Messe Berlin Singapore will ensure prime positioning, media visibility, and targeted buyer engagement.

Messe Berlin Asia Pacific has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Tourism Board to collaborate in the ITB Asia from 2026 to 2028. The strategic partnership aims to jointly develop new content pillars, co-market the event, enhance buyer engagement initiatives, and facilitate more government participation.

Together, Messe Berlin and STB are committed to strengthening ITB Asia’s position as one Asia’s leading travel trade shows and platform for the global tourism industry.

“This strategic partnership with Messe Berlin reinforces Singapore’s position as the World’s Best MICE City and aligns with our Tourism 2040 goals to cultivate stronger MICE visitor demand and create distinctive experiences,” said Mr. Poh Chi Chuan, Executive Director, Exhibitions and Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board.

ITB Asia organised by Messe Berlin Asia Pacific is supported by the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau. The annual business-to-business trade show and convention features exhibiting companies from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, covering leisure market, MICE and corporate travel.

IN 2026, it will be held from October 21 to 23 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.