A Marketer’s Tour of Vietnam
Photo credit: Needpix
A few months ago, I left behind the US and all its troubles and I’ve been traveling through Vietnam.
I’m thankful to be at a point in my life where I have the time, means, and drive to step away from the rat race for a little while and explore the world. I’ve treated myself to experiencing a foreign country more slowly than I ever have before, not just checking off destinations, but staying long enough to immerse myself in the local scene.
This extended journey is more than just a vacation. For me, it’s a professional field study in marketing, tourism, and even hospitality.
My background is in communications and marketing. I began my career as a communications project manager at a global technology company and later moved into a marketing management role in the nonprofit sector. Across both roles, one thing has always been true: marketing is about influence. It’s about shaping perception in a way that moves people to act, to buy, to support, to believe, and to go.
Tourism operates on that same principle.
“DO I LIKE THIS PLACE? DO I STAY LONGER? DO I RECOMMEND IT TO OTHERS? DO I COME BACK?”
Countries dedicate massive amounts of funding to running tourism campaigns and constantly communicate why you should visit. Through its food, its infrastructure, its service culture, its history, and even its pace of life, it sends signals about who it is and what it values. When you visit a place, you’re not just sightseeing, you’re interacting with its brand. You’re testing whether the experience matches the image you’ve conjured in your head of that land, the stories you’ve heard, and the reputation it’s built. And whether you realize it or not, you’re deciding: Do I like this place? Do I stay longer? Do I recommend it to others? Do I come back?
It’s no secret that the late Anthony Bourdain is a hero of mine. His series Parts Unknown, No Reservations, and his book A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal deeply inspired me. What stayed with me in his writing and his work at large wasn’t just the meals he ate, but his genuine curiosity for every place he visited. He believed in the idea that you could understand a place by moving through it slowly, sitting at its tables, talking with people from different walks of life, and really paying attention to the moment.
In some ways, this series is my version of that — not as a chef searching for the perfect dish, but as a marketing professional trying to understand how a country markets and presents itself to the world.
Photo credit: Flickr
As I move through Vietnam, going from big cities to small towns, from hostels to homestays to hotels, from street food stalls to late-night coffee shops to local hotspots, I’m looking at everything through two lenses: as a traveler enjoying the experience and as a marketer observing how that experience is shaped.
Over the next several posts, I’ll explore Vietnam through the themes that make up the lived experience of a place.
This isn’t about finding the “perfect” version of anything.
It’s about being present, paying attention to the moment, and seeing what travel reveals when you look at it through a marketing lens.
Photo credit: Pexels