The Unstoppable Rise of Da Nang, Vietnam: Inside HORECFEX 2026’s Powerful Vision for the Ultimate Hospitality Revolution

Da Nang has long been known for its breathtaking beaches and resort destinations. But over the last decade, there has been an astonishingly fast and impressive transformation to the status of the city within the region. Da Nang has rapidly developed into a spot where international conferences, economic fora, and large global meetings cross paths.

August 2026 will bring this momentum to a head with HORECFEX VIETNAM 2026. HORECFEX will be the first event of its kind to be held at the Ariyana Convention Centre in Da Nang, Vietnam. This event will showcase the Da Nang tourism–MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) ecosystem. It will demonstrate Da Nang’s Tourism’s ability to adopt and integrate technologies. Da Nang is the venue of choice for businesses and professionals and the best place to implement advanced hospitality technologies. Da Nang is not just aiming to be a preferred destination for tourists, but aims to provide a tourist experience so unique and superior that it will forever define and shape the future of the hospitality industry.

The “Hospitality” Industry Facing an Unavoidable Transformation

A vacation today starts long before a guest actually steps into a hotel lobby. The entire journey of searching for a destination, reading peer reviews, comparing prices, booking, and making payments mostly takes place in a fluid digital environment. Furthermore, during their stay, modern guests continue to expect far faster response times, more convenient automated processes, and highly personalised services that increasingly suit their personal needs.

Behind that seamless convenience are a series of complex operational problems that tourism, hotel, and restaurant businesses must actively handle every single day. Functions such as revenue management, energy control, accurate demand forecasting, manpower allocation, ingredient management, customer care, and dynamic marketing are all being increasingly influenced by big data and advanced technology. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can effectively help these businesses understand intricate customer behaviour much more deeply while completely automating repetitive tasks. Additionally, virtual reality opens up entirely new ways to remotely survey and introduce physical spaces, while real-time translation technology actively helps bridge complex language barriers in an industry serving diverse guests from many global markets.

Surging Market Pressures and Shifting Demographics

The sheer scale of the current market is actively creating far greater pressure for sweeping innovation across the entire industry. In the first seven months of 2026, Vietnam proudly welcomed a staggering 13.9 million international visitors, which is up 13.8% year on year, successfully reaching approximately 56% of its ambitious annual target of 25 million total arrivals.

This monumental shift is visible not only in raw visitor numbers but also in the changing mix of source markets. After seven months, China remained Vietnam’s absolute largest market with approximately 3.1 million arrivals, closely followed by South Korea with 2.4 million. Interestingly, Russia emerged strongly with around 864,000 arrivals (up a massive 174%), while India reached 553,000 (up 42.9%), and the Philippines recorded 417,000 (up 63.6%). European markets also posted incredibly strong growth, reflecting a much broader geographical diversification of Vietnam’s overall international visitor base. For hotels, this dramatic shift means handling increasingly complex service expectations—ranging from specific language support and unique dining preferences to varied payment methods and deeply personalised experiences—making continuous investment in knowledge, technology, and operational capability ever more vital.

Closing the Gap: Bringing Technology from Stage to Real Operations

The physical gap between a flashy technology that merely impresses on stage and a pragmatic solution that actually creates real operational efficiency remains very large. Today’s hospitality businesses not only need to know what is completely new in the market, but they must also intimately understand which solution precisely fits their scale, exactly what resources need to be invested, whether their team is genuinely capable of adopting it, and what measurable value that technology will reliably create after full implementation.

It is precisely this critical gap between “seeing technology” and “putting technology into operation” that HORECFEX VIETNAM 2026 aims to permanently address. The program’s powerful announcement clearly identifies the goal of not only introducing new solutions but actively creating the right conditions for businesses to access truly applicable technology and sustainably enhance their competitive capacity.

HORECFEX VIETNAM deliberately chooses to bring technology much closer to attendees through highly practical experiences. Right at the initial press conference announcing the program, Rokid smart glasses were masterfully applied, showcasing their ability to display subtitles and provide multi-language real-time translation. Additionally, Meta Quest 3 headsets allowed for immersive 360-degree space experiences. Furthermore, advanced robots from OrionStar, KEENON, and Unitree Robotics were proudly introduced in highly realistic scenarios related to reception, Food & Beverage (F&B), security, and rescue. The point is not just the visual novelty of the equipment, but the profound question behind them: how can a specific technology help hotels serve better, help resorts operate more efficiently, and ensure staff have more quality time for customers?.

Reality at the Furama – Ariyana Da Nang International Tourism Complex has already successfully shown part of that forward-thinking mindset. The Ms. Ariyana robot is actively used to support reception, provide guidance, and offer information provision, while Furama Resort Da Nang step-by-step applies AI to content and customer experience. Service robots are one of the technological applications already put into actual operation, effectively supporting transport and service tasks while contributing to vastly improving operational efficiency. Technology, in this practical approach, does not appear to entirely replace the warm essence of the “hospitality” service industry but to powerfully support the operational team to freely devote resources to tasks requiring more human observation, sophistication, and interaction.

HORECFEX VIETNAM 2026: “Everything You Need” for the Transformation Journey

Taking place on August 20–21 at the Ariyana Convention Centre Da Nang, HORECFEX VIETNAM 2026 is powerfully positioned as the Hospitality & Tourism Forum for Technology, Innovation & Procurement. Events like this do not appear in isolation but are built directly on the foundation of organisational capacity, conference infrastructure, international hospitality experience, and increasingly close coordination between the government, businesses, and the professional community of Da Nang.

The official website currently expects the program to gather more than 4,500 highly engaged attendees, over 100 interactive booths, more than 80 distinguished speakers, and over 40 in-depth discussion sessions. This massive scale builds on the clear growth achieved across previous editions. On just the first day of HORECFEX VIETNAM 2025 alone, the event welcomed 3,500 attendees, more than 120 brands, and over 90 speakers representing 20 countries, with international experts making up 40% of the line-up. HORECFEX VIETNAM is proudly positioned by organisers as one of the very largest events for the hotel, restaurant, and food service industry in Vietnam. It serves as an international industry forum where invaluable experience from different global markets is brought together with the practical challenges facing Vietnam’s hospitality sector.

More noteworthy than the numbers is this year’s overarching theme: “EVERYTHING YOU NEED – Knowledge, Technology, Supply, and Connection”. These four vital elements can be seen as four consecutive steps of the exact same transformation journey.

• Knowledge fundamentally helps businesses thoroughly understand what is changing.
• Technology effectively turns those insights into actionable tools and solutions.
• Supply determines the physical ability to put those solutions into daily operation.
• Connection creates perfect conditions for knowledge, technology, and resources to find the right partners and right market, continuing to create massive value long after the event.

This is exactly how HORECFEX VIETNAM is positioned—as a deeply comprehensive connection platform rather than a mere equipment exhibition. That collaborative spirit is vividly reflected in the program’s powerful partner structure, accompanied by Co-hosts MENAS Group and AnhTris Holdings, along with Diamond Sponsors including Phu Long, Hai Tran Media & Airs, and TIM Corp. This list shows the vast openness of the ecosystem the program wants to build, standing hotel businesses alongside units operating in real estate, lifestyle, HORECA supply solutions, media, and F&B.

Beyond Hoteliers: Unprecedented Opportunities Across the Ecosystem

HORECFEX VIETNAM is deliberately not only aimed at those directly managing massive hotels or resorts. The four values—Knowledge, Technology, Supply, and Connection—open up incredibly different access points for varied businesses, agile suppliers, individual professionals, and the ambitious younger generation.

What truly distinguishes HORECFEX VIETNAM is its unique ability to seamlessly bring multiple parts of the complex industry into one shared space: hoteliers, operators, restaurants, suppliers, technology companies, experts, investors, and the eager next generation of hospitality professionals. Rather than requiring each distinct group to attend separate, isolated events, it successfully creates a massive common platform to access knowledge, discover supply solutions, and deeply connect with potential partners capable of addressing real operational needs.

For technology solution providers developing AI, automation, data management, energy management, or digital solutions to enhance customer experience, this event creates prime opportunities to directly approach target hotels and tourism businesses. It is not only a place to introduce products but a rare occasion for suppliers to closely listen to actual operational problems, understand market needs, and seek immediate applications. For product and service providers—ranging from food, kitchen equipment, and housekeeping products to healthcare and furniture—”Supply” is not only present in the exhibition area but becomes a vital link directly connecting the actual needs of businesses with solutions capable of going right into operation.

Fostering Deep Connections and Knowledge for the Future

At HORECFEX VIETNAM, the ability to formulate meetings that address critical issues and solve operational problems at the optimum time, is highly valued. For suppliers, it is a rare chance to approach top management. An exchange can begin from a specific need, but what truly matters is the transformation of that meeting into a continuing relationship. An array of forums, detailed presentations, and group discussions provides attendees with a unique platform to express alternative views on the challenges shaping the industry. These include applied AI and hotel management, optimisation of food and beverage, human resources, sustainability, and many others. For young people and students, it is an extraordinary opportunity to witness the changing landscape of the labour market. They can identify the newly required skills and the emerging careers at the nexus of technology and tourism. HORECFEX VIETNAM is a unique opportunity to bring together the key players in the B2B sector and the supply of innovative services. For established companies, it shortens the time-consuming process of connecting with innovative services and provides an opportunity to buy and instantly implement the products. More than 40 specialized sessions provide seasoned professionals with the opportunity to obtain essential knowledge.

Knowledge does more than make a sound in a conference room never to be heard from again. It gives value when a new point of view serves to change a business’s strategy, or a worker’s self-reflection. The Knowledge, Technology, Supply, and Connection Quadrants form an integrated ecosystem. Knowledge helps define the problem, technology provides the tools to solve, supply helps create the means to the solution, and connection is the final link. This link aids HORECFEX VIETNAM in adding massively more value to more than just a forum, and marking Da Nang as an important business city beyond tourism.

Image Courtesy: HORECFEX 2026