Vietnam’s Gia Lai Targets Japan With Five New Tourism Experiences and Phu Cat Charter Push

Vietnam’s Gia Lai is promoting tourism products and services to Japanese customers and has announced its plan to enhance international access to Phu Cat Airport. In September 2026, Gia Lai preliminary worked with Japanese travel agents and charter operators in Kanagawa. The province aims to develop beach, cultural, and eco-tourism as well as golf and coffee tourism. Gia Lai is in a good position to develop eco-tourism because of the presence of natural resources, and if developed properly, might help transform the tourism industry in the province. In addition, the province can take advantage of the rising interest in international tourism to create more tourism products and services that would encourage visitors to stay longer.

Gia Lai shifts from destination promotion to market-specific tourism

Gia Lai’s latest campaign in Japan marks a notable change in how the Vietnamese province is approaching international tourism. Instead of presenting the same destination portfolio to every overseas market, provincial tourism officials are developing experiences around the interests of specific travellers.

That approach was taken to Vietnam Festa in Kanagawa 2026, held in Yokohama. The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan confirmed that the festival opened on 12 September and attracted thousands of people despite heavy rain, with Gia Lai and Da Nang among the Vietnamese destinations taking part.

The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported that Gia Lai used the event to introduce its culture, tourism products and National Tourism Year 2026 programme to Japanese residents, travellers and tourism partners.

For Gia Lai, the Japanese campaign is therefore about more than destination visibility. It is part of a wider effort to connect promotion with products that tour operators can potentially package and sell.

Five experiences put Japanese travellers at the centre

Gia Lai has identified five product categories for the Japanese market:

• High-quality coastal resort holidays
• Culture, heritage and community tourism
• Green nature experiences
• Agricultural tourism combined with coffee culture
• Golf combined with resort stays

The portfolio draws on the unusually broad geography of the enlarged province. Gia Lai can now combine the beaches around Quy Nhon with highland landscapes, indigenous culture, agriculture and nature-based experiences.

That diversity is central to the province’s tourism strategy. Government planning has identified connections between coastal and highland tourism as a way of creating distinctive itineraries rather than relying on individual attractions.

For Japanese tour operators, that could provide several different ways of packaging the destination. Coastal stays can be combined with culture, while highland itineraries can incorporate coffee, community experiences and natural landscapes.

Why Japan matters to Gia Lai

The Kanagawa campaign shows that Gia Lai wants to move from general promotion towards direct engagement with the Japanese travel trade.

The provincial delegation met tourism organisations and businesses during the promotion programme. The campaign also introduced Japanese audiences to local products, coffee, traditional crafts and the province’s combined coastal and highland identity.

This approach comes during National Tourism Year – Gia Lai 2026, which the province is using to raise its international profile and improve tourism products and service standards.

Gia Lai’s official National Tourism Year programme runs across 2026 rather than concentrating activity in a single peak period. Programmes cover the Quy Nhon summer season, martial-arts heritage and Central Highlands gong culture, helping distribute tourism activity across different parts of the year.

Tourism numbers show why international expansion matters

Gia Lai already has a sizeable tourism economy, but international visitors remain a relatively small part of it.

Official provincial figures show that the province received 12.4 million visitors in 2025, up 17.6% from 2024. International arrivals reached 125,000, an increase of 9.5%, while tourism revenue reached VND29 trillion.

Momentum strengthened in 2026. Gia Lai’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported nearly seven million visitors during the first five months, up 16.5%, while tourism receipts reached about VND15.2 trillion, up 19%.

International arrivals exceeded 112,000 during those five months, an increase of 80% year on year.

That growth helps explain the focus on Japan and other overseas markets. Gia Lai’s challenge is no longer simply attracting more visitors; it is building a much larger and more sustainable international segment.

Phu Cat Airport becomes central to the international strategy

Product development alone cannot deliver that target. International accessibility is the other major part of the strategy.

Phu Cat Airport serves the Quy Nhon side of the province and is undergoing major infrastructure development. Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed in April that authorities were coordinating procedures for the airport’s second runway and associated infrastructure.

The regulator said the administrative process included procedures for publishing international aeronautical information. The runway project was being prepared to support airport operations and National Tourism Year – Gia Lai 2026.

Earlier in March, the Civil Aviation Authority reported that the government had sought to accelerate the project, with construction targeted for completion in June followed by calibration work.

The airport development matters because Gia Lai’s international tourism strategy depends partly on reducing the friction involved in reaching the destination from overseas markets.

Proposed charter policy adds a commercial incentive

Gia Lai is also developing a policy intended to attract international tourists aboard non-scheduled international flights to Phu Cat.

The proposal is still a draft and should not be treated as an implemented subsidy.

Under the provincial government draft published on 10 August, eligible international travel businesses would need to organise programmes in which tourists stay in Gia Lai for at least three nights and use local tourism services.

The proposed charter programme would also have to maintain at least 20 flights over three consecutive months.

Qualifying businesses could receive VND200 million for each eligible charter flight. The draft also proposes a 50% reduction in admission charges for charter passengers at the ExploraScience Quy Nhon centre, Twin Towers and Banh It Tower.

This is significant for the travel trade because the conditions favour sustained programmes rather than one-off promotional flights.

What the strategy could mean for airlines hotels and tour operators

For tour operators, the five-product Japan strategy creates clearer building blocks for itineraries.

The three-night requirement contained in the proposed charter policy would also encourage packages that retain international visitors inside Gia Lai rather than using the province as a short stop.

Hotels and resorts could benefit from that emphasis on overnight stays if the proposed programme translates into sustained charter operations. Golf resorts, coastal accommodation, community tourism businesses and highland operators would serve different parts of the Japanese-targeted portfolio.

Airlines and charter operators, meanwhile, would have clearer evidence of provincial support for international programmes. However, no scheduled Japan–Phu Cat service should be considered confirmed unless an airline or aviation authority formally announces one.

Mountains and sea give Gia Lai an unusual tourism proposition

The province’s expanded geography gives it a distinctive selling point.

Gia Lai tourism authorities identify sea-and-highland tourism as a strategic product, alongside cultural, historical, community, ecological, resort, sports, MICE and science tourism.

The coastal side offers Quy Nhon and surrounding beaches. Inland, travellers can encounter Central Highlands landscapes, coffee culture and communities with distinctive cultural traditions.

Government tourism planning also includes links between coastal destinations and forest ecosystems, as well as cultural routes involving Bahnar, Jrai and Cham communities.

For the Japanese market, the five-product approach therefore turns Gia Lai’s geography into defined travel themes rather than simply a long list of attractions.

Tourism development is tied to a bigger 2030 target

Gia Lai’s longer-term ambitions extend beyond the Japanese campaign.

Its tourism development programme targets 18.5 million visitors by 2030, including 1.1 million international travellers. The provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also targets VND45.5 trillion in tourism revenue, 33,000 accommodation rooms and more than 25,000 direct tourism workers by that point.

These targets put the Japan campaign into perspective. Market-specific products, overseas promotion, airport investment and charter incentives are different parts of the same internationalisation strategy.

The province is attempting to increase visitor value as well as volume by extending stays, improving services and creating experiences that can be sold to specific overseas markets.

What Japanese and international travellers need to know

Travellers should distinguish between what has already happened and what remains planned.

The five Japanese-market tourism product categories have been promoted, and Gia Lai has already taken its tourism campaign to Kanagawa.

Phu Cat Airport’s infrastructure development is also real and documented by Vietnam’s aviation regulator.

The international charter support programme, however, remains a provincial draft policy. Travellers should therefore not interpret it as confirmation that direct charter services between Japan and Phu Cat are already operating.

Current flight schedules, entry requirements and transport arrangements should be checked through airlines and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before booking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are direct charter flights from Japan to Phu Cat Airport operating?

No Japan–Phu Cat service is confirmed in the official sources reviewed for this article. Gia Lai is promoting international charter connectivity and developing a support policy, but travellers should wait for a formal airline, airport or aviation-authority announcement before treating a route as available.

What experiences is Gia Lai developing for Japanese tourists?

Gia Lai is targeting five areas: premium coastal resorts, culture and community heritage, green nature tourism, agricultural and coffee experiences, and golf combined with resort stays. The aim is to give Japanese travel businesses clearer products around which they can build itineraries.

Why is Phu Cat Airport important for visitors?

Phu Cat is the principal air gateway serving the Quy Nhon side of Gia Lai. Its infrastructure development is important to the province’s effort to improve aviation access and support future international tourism growth.

Gia Lai’s Japan strategy links tourism products with better access

Gia Lai’s targeting of Japan is part of a wider initiative of the province to promote international tourism. Traditionally, international promotion by provinces has focused on attracting visitors to specific destinations. Meanwhile, this year’s activity by Gia Lai has encompassed five components, namely, engagement with the travel trade and market activities, the National Tourism Year programme, and upgrading Phu Cat Airport. Rapid growth in international visitor arrival has, however, remained relatively low in comparison with total tourist arrivals to Gia Lai. For the purpose of international visitor arrival target of 1.1 million set by Gia Lai for year 2030, it is imperative that the province strengthens its international marketing and improves the length of stay of international visitors. Implementation of the strategy has already begun with the Japanese market.

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