At a press conference providing information on socio-economic issues in Ho Chi Minh City on the afternoon of May 14, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le - Deputy Head of Tourism Accommodation Management Department of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism assessed that the development of online booking platforms such as Airbnb, Agoda or Booking. com has contributed to promoting the development of the sharing economy model in the accommodation sector in Ho Chi Minh City. This is an inevitable development trend, reflecting the dynamism of the tourism market as well as the city's increasingly deep international integration capacity.
However, the rapid and spontaneous development of this model in the past time has raised many issues in state management, especially related to contents such as: business conditions for tourist accommodation services; business registration and tax obligations; ensuring security and order; fire prevention and fighting; residence management; environmental protection; ensuring the rights and interests of residents living in apartment buildings.
The consistent viewpoint of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism is to encourage the development of diverse types of tourism services to improve competitiveness and meet the increasingly diverse needs of tourists. However, all business activities need to be carried out on the basis of compliance with legal regulations, ensuring harmony between tourism development requirements, the rights of tourists, residential communities and urban management requirements of the city.
The short-term accommodation model through the platform is becoming an effective support channel for the city's tourism industry in the context of the strong development of the digital economy and technology society today. Since Decision No. 19/2026/QD-UBND took effect, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has not recorded many notifications of tourism accommodation business activities from apartment buildings.
To promote the positive aspects of the short-term accommodation model through online platforms, and at the same time, ensure state management, security and order and quality of tourist destinations, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism proposes key solutions and recommendations: synchronously completing the legal corridor; binding the responsibilities of OTA platforms; promoting the application of technology and synchronously deploying the Accommodation Declaration Software; strengthening inspection, examination and handling of violations.
