Nearly 80,000 visitors came to Saigontourist Group 2026 culinary festival

In its 5th season, Saigontourist Group 2026 Culinary and Delicious Culture Festival has the theme “Connecting the quintessence of Vietnamese culinary culture”, gathering more than 50 4-5 star hotels, resorts, and restaurants in the Saigontourist Group system.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh, Deputy General Director of Saigontourist Group, Head of the Organizing Committee, said that this year’s event has been upgraded in both scale and quality. Each dish is a story and each stall is a piece of culture, contributing to creating a colorful culinary picture.

The festival space is organized around a multi-sensory experience, combining cuisine with art, craft villages and interactive activities.

With culinary experiences, the festival creates a highlight through the program “500 dishes Saigontourist Group – 10 flavor journeys”, bringing diners to experience throughout the regions, from the Northwest, the Central Heritage, Vietnam’s sea and islands to royal cuisine, the “cuisine without borders” area. Each space is designed as a slice of culture, telling the story of ingredients, preparation and local life.

Along with unique culinary features, the program offers a variety of folk performances such as Bac Ninh Quan Ho, Central Highlands gongs, monkey dance and Khmer five-syllable music. Performances are performed throughout, creating a continuous cultural flow within the event grounds.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Phu (Hanoi), head of the Bac Ninh Quan ho delegation, said that the whole group consists of brothers and sisters who share the same passion and love for this type, gathered from provinces and cities across the country such as Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Hanoi and even Ho Chi Minh City.

“For the third time coming to the Saigontourist Group 2026 Food Festival, we want to let young people and international tourists get closer to traditional arts and feel the beauty of folk songs in the space of modern life. We recreate love singing and duet singing performances at the entrance area to make an impression on visitors from the first steps,” Mr. Phu added.

The festival also organizes professional programs such as honoring 10 talented chefs, 10 regional delicacies, 6 excellent mixologists and voting for impressive booths. Two topics on “The quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine reaching the world” and “Green tourism – riverside cuisine” gathered many experts, artisans and students of the tourism and hospitality industry to compete.

Thanks to the expanded scale and unique experiences, the event grew strongly in the number of attendees compared to last year, from more than 70,000 visitors to nearly 80,000. On media channels, the event recorded more than one million online visits with more than 500 articles, reports and dozens of digital content products shared on social networks.

Mr. Tran Minh Tuan (HCMC) said he was impressed with this year’s organization of the festival as each area has its own story, helping participants clearly feel the regional culture. Ms. Anna Muller, a German tourist, assessed that the festival brings diverse experiences from traditional to modern dishes and a lively cultural space.

A representative of the organizing committee commented that the festival is not only a culinary event but also a platform to promote culture and tourism, connecting businesses, localities and international partners. Saigontourist Group said it will continue to research and develop international versions, aiming to bring Vietnamese cuisine more widely accessible to the global community.

In previous World Culinary Awards, the festival was honored for many years in the categories “Best Culinary Festival in Asia” and “Best Culinary Festival in the World”.