Vietnam is holding a golden key to position itself on the world map - its cuisine. From the phở in a fine restaurant to a humble street food stall, Vietnamese gastronomy, when viewed through the prism of technology, can become a uniquely effective and sustainable tool for tourism promotion.
The travel experience is incomplete without the culinary experience-a cultural element that serves as a firm root of a destination's brand. Every dish is a story that forges emotional connections, transmitting cultural values and the national essence. In other words, cuisine is part of the local heritage and serves as a swift, powerful language for promoting tourism.
Technology helps personalise experiences
Technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), has equipped businesses with advanced tools to innovate, optimise operations, and create breakthrough competitive advantages in culinary tourism:
The travel experience is incomplete without the culinary experience-a cultural element that serves as a firm root of a destination's brand. Every dish is a story that forges emotional connections, transmitting cultural values and the national essence. In other words, cuisine is part of the local heritage and serves as a swift, powerful language for promoting tourism.
Technology helps personalise experiences
Technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), has equipped businesses with advanced tools to innovate, optimise operations, and create breakthrough competitive advantages in culinary tourism:
- Personalising experience: Technology allows businesses to use data to deeply understand customer behaviors and even their unspoken needs. This enables culinary brands to personalise products and services, thereby creating unique experiences that exceed tourists’ expectations.
- Creating diverse communication channels (the brand's 'canopy'): Technology offers new methods for expressing brand identity. Sales channels, media channels, and methods of customer interaction all become part of a "lush canopy, providing shades and bearing fruits". Brands can leverage social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) for brand storytelling, while applying digital brand strategies to maximise value and online sales.
- Applying technology in operation: AI not only boosts productivity and reduces costs but also aids in supply chain management, from farm to table. This ensures consistency in product and service quality-a critical factor when expanding a chain.
Interaction and storytelling on digital platforms
In the world of digital tourism, 'brand voice' has become critically important. The voice used on social media must be friendly, approachable, and interactive to build a connection with the online community:
In the world of digital tourism, 'brand voice' has become critically important. The voice used on social media must be friendly, approachable, and interactive to build a connection with the online community:
- Disseminating cultural stories: Cuisine is a compelling story, and technology a modern tool for telling it. Profound and moving brand storytelling will forge a strong connection with customers.
- Transparency of product origins: Digitalisation allows transparency and product traceability. For culinary tourism, scanning a QR code to learn about the farm, the artisan’s process, or the farmer's story builds trust and authenticity. This is a "mandatory" element for any brand wishing to "go far" in the international market.
When culture leads the economy
The primary challenge for the Vietnamese cuisine lies in brand building and positioning. For our cuisine to become an effective language to promote tourism, a philosophy of sustainable branding must be applied, in which culture leads the economy:
The primary challenge for the Vietnamese cuisine lies in brand building and positioning. For our cuisine to become an effective language to promote tourism, a philosophy of sustainable branding must be applied, in which culture leads the economy:
- Build identity from entrepreneurial culture: The brand must be built from the roots of its own culture. The "seed" of a brand is often tied to the story of its people and to its entrepreneurial culture. This is the sincerity, passion and original conviction of the founder-the things that visitors truly want to "buy".
- Communicate consistently on digital channels: The brand messaging must be integrated and appear consistently across all media platforms. The brand voice must be carefully defined and curated to become strong in all communication scenarios, creating a uniform experience and strengthening customer loyalty.
- Utilise data to shape the future: Technology is not just a promotional tool. It is a precious source of data. By monitoring customer feedback and interactions on digital channels, brands can adjust and improve their products and services. This is akin to "observing and adjusting the watering of a plant over time", ensuring the culinary brand remains relevant to the rapidly changing market.
Forging a digital heritage space for cuisine
The Vietnamese cuisine is in a phase of transformation. Elevating it from a raw product into a brand heritage requires a long-term, persistent, and resilient strategy.
To achieve this, "digitalisation" should not stop at individual websites. It demands deep integration into global tourism ecosystems via shared platforms like Tripadvisor, Google Maps, Agoda, and international food blogs, which are no longer merely booking sites. These platforms have become the "digital map" for international tourists, used to search, compare, and validate experiences through review systems and user-generated content (UGC). A restaurant or street food stall with a 5-star rating and thousands of comments on these platforms will immediately become a validated and trusted "destination" on the tourist map.
Furthermore, an effective "digital map" strategy must be micro-focused and culturally specific. Reaching high-value markets like Japan, South Korea, or China requires a presence on their own "native" platforms.
To attract Korean tourists, a brand must be prominent on Naver Blogs and the food review app Mangoplate. They prioritise visually appealing locations validated by local KOCs (Key Opinion Customers).
For Chinese tourists, presence and high ratings on Dianping (China's "Yelp" equivalent) or Mafengwo (a travel-social platform) are key to building trust.
Meanwhile, Japanese tourists trust detailed food blogs that praise subtlety, cleanliness, and quiet, high-quality service.
This strategy requires us to use their specific "language", platforms, and cultural "palate" for promotion, rather than applying a generic, one-size-fits-all message. Digital tourism is an inevitable path to realising this vision, ensuring generational transfer and market adaptability.
The future of Vietnamese tourism depends on our ability to transform culinary culture into digital heritage-using digital tools to tell cultural stories, ensure quality transparency, and personalise experiences. In doing so, the Vietnamese cuisine will not just be about delicious meals; it will become a powerful global language, creating a vibrant and sustainable map for the "Vietnam" brand.
The Vietnamese cuisine is in a phase of transformation. Elevating it from a raw product into a brand heritage requires a long-term, persistent, and resilient strategy.
To achieve this, "digitalisation" should not stop at individual websites. It demands deep integration into global tourism ecosystems via shared platforms like Tripadvisor, Google Maps, Agoda, and international food blogs, which are no longer merely booking sites. These platforms have become the "digital map" for international tourists, used to search, compare, and validate experiences through review systems and user-generated content (UGC). A restaurant or street food stall with a 5-star rating and thousands of comments on these platforms will immediately become a validated and trusted "destination" on the tourist map.
Furthermore, an effective "digital map" strategy must be micro-focused and culturally specific. Reaching high-value markets like Japan, South Korea, or China requires a presence on their own "native" platforms.
To attract Korean tourists, a brand must be prominent on Naver Blogs and the food review app Mangoplate. They prioritise visually appealing locations validated by local KOCs (Key Opinion Customers).
For Chinese tourists, presence and high ratings on Dianping (China's "Yelp" equivalent) or Mafengwo (a travel-social platform) are key to building trust.
Meanwhile, Japanese tourists trust detailed food blogs that praise subtlety, cleanliness, and quiet, high-quality service.
This strategy requires us to use their specific "language", platforms, and cultural "palate" for promotion, rather than applying a generic, one-size-fits-all message. Digital tourism is an inevitable path to realising this vision, ensuring generational transfer and market adaptability.
The future of Vietnamese tourism depends on our ability to transform culinary culture into digital heritage-using digital tools to tell cultural stories, ensure quality transparency, and personalise experiences. In doing so, the Vietnamese cuisine will not just be about delicious meals; it will become a powerful global language, creating a vibrant and sustainable map for the "Vietnam" brand.
Nguyễn Tiến Huy/Impression from Vietnam
| By focusing on the gustatory experience, Bến Thời Gian (Time's Wharf) has crystalised the local cultural essence, "touching" every diner through its banquet menus: "Palace Cuisine" with meticulously designed sets: from Vườn Nhà Phủ Đệ (Palace Garden - rustic, delicate), Mâm Cao Cỗ Đầy (The Bountiful Feast - prosperous, hospitable) to Sơn Hào Hải Vị (Treasures of Mountain and Sea - special, rare); alongside regular ceremonial events like the "Palace Vegetarian Feast" or "The Palace Opens its Banquet", creating a feast that embodies three elements: Abundance – Fullness – Harmony. |
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