Vietnam's maritime infrastructure will be upgraded to accommodate large ships, along with shopping, dining, and entertainment complexes operating day and night.
On the morning of September 3, at the conference to thoroughly grasp the Politburo's Resolutions and Directives, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra presented Resolution 26 on developing Vietnam's tourism to become a key economic sector in the new era.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, global tourism is fluctuating strongly, tourist needs are changing and competition between destinations is increasingly fierce. This context requires Vietnam to respond flexibly and at the same time have a comprehensive and sustainable development strategy.
The resolution requires innovating thinking, approaches and management methods, shifting the tourism growth model from quantity to quality, thereby increasing added value for the economy. In the five guiding viewpoints, the Politburo determined that tourism must truly become a key economic sector, a new growth engine, contributing to achieving the double-digit growth target. Culture is the core foundation, while identity and quality of experience are the competitive advantage.
Tourism will be developed according to an integrated economic ecosystem, creating motivation for trade, services, transportation, cultural industry, agriculture, digital economy, night economy and related fields. This process must ensure harmony between economy, culture, society and environment, associated with defense, security, foreign affairs and international integration.
Regarding infrastructure, the Politburo requires the development of a multimedia connection system from the international gateway to dynamic regions, centers and national tourist areas. Highways, coastal roads, airports, cruise ship ports, marinas, waterways and tourist railways will be upgraded synchronously. Priority is given to investment in marine service infrastructure to receive large cruise ships, making Vietnam an important destination for cruise itineraries in Asia - Pacific.
Localities must reserve land funds, attract strategic investors and businesses with financial capacity, technology, and management experience to participate in dynamic projects. The focus includes tourism, culture, sports, entertainment and shopping complexes; Large-scale, high-quality health care resort and accommodation facility.
The Politburo also advocates building internationally competitive sea and island resort centers; Developing a unique shopping, culinary, and entertainment complex with day and night activities, along with concert centers, festival streets, and performing arts areas.
Target to collect 90 billion USD from tourists
By 2030, Vietnamese tourism is set to directly contribute 10-12% of GDP, welcome 45-50 million international visitors and serve 160 million domestic visitors. Total revenue from tourists is expected to reach 80-90 billion USD.
Vietnam will strongly develop three tourism growth poles including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang; Forming 10 key tourist centers, 20 national tourist areas and 15 corporations and corporations with strong brands, capable of competing internationally. The entire industry is expected to create about 2.3 million direct jobs and 3.5 million indirect jobs, while forming a smart tourism ecosystem, database and national tourism digital platform.
"These are numbers that require outstanding efforts and very high determination to complete by 2030," said the Deputy Prime Minister.
To achieve the goal, the Deputy Prime Minister said tourism will be positioned as an integrated economic sector in the national growth model and development space. Development based on quantity and simple resource exploitation needs to shift to depth, quality, efficiency, sustainability and high added value.
The resolution requires completing the management mechanism for cross-border online tourism platforms; Encourage innovation, digital transformation, smart tourism and green tourism. Entry and exit policies continue to be studied in a more favorable direction. Vietnam will expand bilateral visa exemption, apply flexible visa policies to key markets and give incentives to groups of visitors with high contribution potential, on the basis of ensuring national defense, security and national interests.
Specific mechanisms and policies under the Urban Development Law and related laws will be applied to promote Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to become strong growth poles in tourism. Phu Quoc is gradually being built into a new growth pole, a high-end beach resort center with international competitiveness and the ability to attract major events.
Vietnam also prioritizes cultural tourism, high-end resorts associated with islands, health care, sports, conferences, shopping, cuisine and the night economy. Community tourism will be associated with agriculture, rural areas, craft villages, markets and indigenous cultural experiences.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, after nearly 10 years of implementing Resolution 08 of the Politburo, Vietnam's tourism has changed quite comprehensively, contributing increasingly to economic growth, job creation, restructuring and preserving and promoting cultural values. In 2025, Vietnam will welcome nearly 21.2 million international visitors, an increase of more than 20% compared to the previous year, along with 137 million domestic visitors. In the first 8 months of this year, the number of international visitors reached nearly 16 million; The tourism industry is aiming for 25 million visits in 2026.
However, tourism development is not sustainable and not commensurate with the country's potential and advantages. Investment resources are limited; Products lack depth, creativity and low added value. The capacity to manage destinations, apply technology, protect the environment and ensure safety for tourists is still inadequate.
Coordination between sectors and regional links is not synchronized, while bottlenecks in institutions, infrastructure, resources and implementation are slowly being removed. "Vietnam has enough natural resources and cultural heritage to build a regional and world-class tourism industry. The remaining issue is determination, will and action to turn potential into a real growth driver," said Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra.
