The nomination reflects the rising popularity of Vietnamese cuisine the world over.

Vietnam will compete for the prize with 13 other countries – Argentina, Australia, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Thailand and the U.S., the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism announced Friday.

The winner will be determined by votes from travelers around the world. Voting is open online at https://www.worldtravelawards.com/vote, and the voting will last until October 20 this year. Voters are required to register for an account on the website before casting their vote.

This year’s awards ceremony for Asia will take place on Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island off the coast of the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, on October 12. The global awards ceremony will be held in Muscat, Oman, in November.

The World Travel Awards was launched in 1993 to acknowledge excellence in the travel and tourism industry. Heralded as the "travel industry's equivalent of the Oscars" by The Wall Street Journal, the awards are handed out based on votes by the public and travel professionals across the globe.

Cha ca, the pan-fried squares of fish tossed with dill, onion, turmeric and galangal,
is a well known, much favored dish of Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Trang.

Vietnamese food ranks among top 15 favorite cuisines in the world, according to a survey released earlier this year by YouGov, a U.K.-based online market research company.

Some of the dishes found on street corners here have achieved fame and presence in all corners of the world, like banh mi, the sandwich which has been listed among the top 20 street foods in the world by Fodor’s Travel, a U.S travel site.

Besides the culinary destination, Vietnam will vie for five other titles at the 26th edition of the prestigious World Travel Awards. 

Two of the titles are at the national level: World’s Leading Destination and World’s Leading Cultural Destination. Two other titles are World’s Leading City Destination (Hanoi) and World’s Leading Cultural City Destination (Hoi An).

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has been nominated for World’s Leading Tourist Board award.

Vietnam welcomed a record 15.4 million foreign visitors last year, a 20 percent increase against 2017, and 11.3 million in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 8.7 percent.

It has improved its tourism competitiveness ranking to reach 63rd position among 140 countries and territories in the biennial Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report by the World Economic Forum 2019, jumping four places from 67th in 2017.

Earlier this year, Vietnam was predicted to lead Asia-Pacific destinations in terms of average annual growth over the next five years in the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2019-2023 report prepared by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).