Vietnam: Chinese Travellers No Longer Just "Pass Through" — They Want to Stay and Eat Well

For thebridgereaches.com readers · Based on traveller interviews and destination data from China's 2026 National Day holiday period

For Vietnam's hotels and restaurants, Chinese travellers are undergoing a subtle but important change: they are no longer just "border-crossing shoppers" or one-day visitors who "check off Ha Long Bay." The data and industry observations from the 2026 National Day period all point in the same direction — stays are getting longer, spending is shifting toward experiences, and the starting point of the decision is getting earlier and earlier, so early that it happens while they are still scrolling on their phones.

What has changed about them

In the past, many Chinese visits to Vietnam were Mong Cai day trips: cross the border in the morning, buy a few things, and head back in the afternoon. But during the 2026 National Day holiday, things were different. Data from the Mong Cai International Border Gate shows that in just the first two days of the holiday, more than 6,200 Chinese travellers entered via the Beilun River Second Bridge, up roughly double the usual volume. More crucially, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration has observed a structural shift: the "low-price group tour" model is gradually being replaced by in-depth travel built on "high quality, experience-heavy, high-standard accommodation."

On the ASEAN tourism heat list for the National Day Golden Week, Vietnam ranked third, behind only Thailand and Malaysia. But more informative than the ranking is the city distribution: Vietnam placed seven destinations in the Chinese travellers' TOP 30 popular cities — Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Da Lat and Hai Phong — the most of any ASEAN country. This shows that Chinese travellers' footprints are spreading from a handful of "must-visit" cities to more places with their own independent appeal.

"I spent over a week in Vietnam, visiting Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Sapa and Ninh Binh, and spent a total of more than 20 million VND. The price was very reasonable — I went to many places and ate a lot of good food, and never felt it was expensive. I would recommend my friends and family come to Vietnam." — Chen, a 30-year-old traveller from Beijing

Interview: a Chinese traveller in Vietnam during the National Day period

Q: Why did you choose Vietnam this time?

A: Actually, I saw a video on Xiaohongshu (RED) — it showed Hoi An at night with the lanterns lit, with very relaxing music. I screenshotted it right away and sent it to a friend saying "I want to go." Later I found Vietnam's visa is convenient and flights weren't expensive, so I booked it. We didn't go to too many places — mainly four days in Da Nang and Hoi An.

Q: After you arrived, was it the same as you imagined?

A: Better than I imagined. I thought it would be a very "touristy" place, but in Da Nang we found a small shop recommended by locals and ate really delicious Mi Quang (Quang-style noodles). The owner doesn't speak Chinese, but was very warm. That kind of experience stays with me more than checking off sights. There's another detail: we sat at a Hoi An café all afternoon, and the owner proactively brought us a fan and offered a small dish of peanuts. These little things aren't in any guidebook, but they made you feel very comfortable.

Q: Would you recommend it to friends?

A: Yes, but I'd tell them not to rush. Vietnam suits slow travel. This trip I only went to two cities, woke up naturally every day, and found a café to sit in every afternoon. If I come again next time, I'd want to go to Da Lat or Phu Quoc — I didn't have time this trip.

Why "seeding early" matters for Vietnamese businesses

Chinese travellers' discovery of Vietnam is increasingly happening on Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Data from the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre shows that in the first five months of 2026, the city received more than 320,000 Chinese visitors, and the local tourism authority has already clearly recognised that Chinese travellers tend to choose destinations through platforms such as RED, Douyin and WeChat, and they place more value on sharing real travel experiences than on plain advertising.

The change is even more concrete in search behaviour. RED data for the first half of 2026 shows rising Chinese interest in multiple Vietnam destinations, and the focus is expanding from "familiar tourist cities" to "places with unique natural landscapes, lifestyles and experiences." One noteworthy tag is #mekongriver — Mekong River content has received nearly 32 million views and over 78,000 posts on the platform. This means that by the time a traveller opens a booking app, the "place I want to go" is already formed in their mind — and that place most likely came from a real user's share, not an official promotional film.

For Vietnam's hotels and restaurants, the window lies in this: appear in their field of view while they are still in the "scrolling content" stage. Not retouched promotional images, but real, searchable moments — a photo of a bowl of noodles, a room with local character, a short video of a street-side café. Vietnam's advantage lies precisely in these "everyday" things, while Chinese young travellers are shifting from "how many sights I saw" to "what I felt."

There is also an easily overlooked detail: the payment experience itself is becoming part of the seeding. In 2026, the interconnection between Vietnam's VietQR Global and Chinese payment platforms kept expanding, allowing Chinese travellers to scan and pay directly with Alipay or WeChat Pay at accepting merchants, with the system converting to Vietnamese dong at the live exchange rate and depositing it into the merchant's account. For a restaurant or café, this means: if a traveller saw your recommendation on RED, comes over, and finds a familiar payment method they can use, that feeling of being "caught and held" translates directly into good reviews and a second round of sharing.

One sentence for Vietnamese businesses: your restaurant or hotel does not need to become an internet-famous check-in spot, but it needs a real, findable moment on Xiaohongshu. Travellers flying to Vietnam leave little time for "accidental discovery" — your location needs to be put on their map before they depart.

Published by thebridgereaches.com. The interview is based on a composite of public shares and industry research from Chinese travellers to Vietnam during the 2026 National Day period; the person's name is a pseudonym. Sources: Vietnam National Tourism Administration; Vietnam News Agency; China–ASEAN business information platform / Qunar; public data from Xiaohongshu (RED); Vietnam.vn and other public sources.