DITF 2026 opens: more than 300 businesses enter a chain of trade connections

The Da Nang International Tourism Festival 2026 (DITF 2026) officially opened on 17 October at Ariyana Convention Centre Danang, bringing together more than 300 supplier businesses, over 150 international buyers, over 400 domestic buyers and more than 1,500 delegates and visitors. Under the theme “Connecting Partners, Creating Future”, this year’s event focuses on bringing promotion closer to real trade — a place where businesses do not just present their products but directly seek out partners, appointments and cooperation opportunities for the next business season.

Developed from the foundations of the Da Nang Tourism Festival, DITF is being steered by the Da Nang Tourism Association towards becoming an annual B2B meeting point of international scale. Whereas traditional promotion activities mainly help a destination raise its profile, the DITF model goes a step further by bringing buyers, tour operators and distribution partners directly to Da Nang to meet businesses, inspect products and assess the destination’s capabilities on the spot.

More than 300 businesses join a shared trade network

With more than 300 participating businesses this year, the event offers a diverse supply structure spanning accommodation, travel services, aviation, MICE, golf, attractions, cuisine and wellness through to support services across the tourism value chain. What stands out is not that these businesses appear together in one exhibition space, but that they are brought into a single connection network with more than 550 domestic and international buyers.

What a buyer needs is rarely just a single service. A holiday programme may require flights, hotels, transport and experiences; a MICE group also needs a venue, a gala, production and team-building; a golf programme needs courses, accommodation, transport and recovery services. When all these links in the chain are present at DITF, one meeting can open up more than a single transaction: it may be the starting point for a new package or a chain of cooperation among several businesses.

Conversely, for small and medium-sized businesses, the event opens up access to a network of buyers that would require far greater resources to reach on their own through roadshows or international fairs. DITF therefore not only expands the scale of connections but also helps close the gap between products in Da Nang and the people able to bring those products to market.

150 international buyers bring the market straight to the destination

One of the focal points of DITF 2026 is the presence of more than 150 international buyers from 11 source markets. They are travel companies, tour operators and distribution partners able to send travellers directly to Vietnam.

Instead of businesses having to travel to each market in search of partners, DITF brings buyers to Da Nang to learn about products first-hand, meet suppliers and inspect actual conditions. This model is particularly meaningful for the tourism industry, because business decisions are rarely based on presentation materials alone. Buyers need to see the hotels, venues, attractions, service quality, transport capacity and how the different parts of the destination work together.

It is this in-person presence of buyers that allows DITF to bring promotion closer to business needs. The question no longer stops at “What does Da Nang have to offer?” but goes deeper: “Which products suit which markets, and how can they be built into a sales plan?”.

Connections prepared in advance, trade built into the structure

DITF 2026 does not leave networking to begin only when participants walk into the hall. Through a pre-matching mechanism, buyers and sellers can review profiles, choose suitable partners and schedule appointments ahead of Business Matching day on 18 October.

This gives meetings at the event clearer objectives. Buyers already know which businesses they will meet, sellers know which markets they are approaching, and both sides can devote their time directly to questions of greater commercial value: is the product a good fit, what are the terms of cooperation, and is the next step a quotation, a famtrip, a site inspection or a pilot programme?

With this approach, attendance is no longer the only KPI. What matters more is the number of invitations sent, the number of meetings confirmed, the meeting completion rate and the leads that start to emerge after the event.

That is also the difference between a crowded festival and a trade platform able to measure the quality of its connections.

The Association aims to create value beyond the two event days

In line with the Da Nang Tourism Association’s direction, DITF is not designed merely as a promotion activity for the city, but aims to create a broader connection platform between Vietnamese tourism businesses and domestic and international partners.

The spirit of “Connecting Partners, Creating Future” is therefore built directly into the programme structure. “Connecting Partners” is not just about putting many parties in the same hall, but about enabling the right partners to find each other. “Creating Future” likewise does not lie in the moment a meeting ends, but in what can take shape afterwards: a proposal, a famtrip, an MOU, a booking, a new tour programme or a contract for 2027.

This is also why DITF’s effectiveness should be viewed over a longer horizon than the two official days of 17–18 October. A successful meeting today may not generate revenue immediately, but if it leads to a request for a quotation, an inspection trip or a new programme, the event will continue to create value for many months afterwards.

Opening an event — and a new trading cycle

With more than 300 businesses, over 150 international buyers and over 400 domestic buyers entering a single connection network, DITF 2026 opens not only on a larger scale but with a clearer demand for results.

Businesses need to find the right buyers. Buyers need to find the right products. Players along the value chain need to find each other to create more complete packages. And the Association needs to see which connections genuinely continue after the event.

The value of opening day therefore lies not only in the number of delegates present at Ariyana Convention Centre Danang. What is more worth watching is how many business relationships will be formed through that network, and how many of them will go on to become new products, visitor flows and partnerships for 2027.

That is the message DITF 2026 has set out from its very first day: today’s connections must create value for tomorrow’s market.