It is impossible to achieve new goals by doing the old.
After nearly 10 years of implementing Resolution 08-NQ/TW, Vietnamese tourism has made many progress. In 2025, the industry welcomed nearly 21.2 million international visitors, 137 million domestic visitors, total revenue of about 1 million billion VND, contributing nearly 8.8% of GDP. Destination competitiveness also increased by 16 places, bringing Vietnam to 3rd place in ASEAN in terms of international visitors.
However, behind the growth figures are still bottlenecks in products, linkages and governance. Resolution 26-NQ/TW therefore focuses on changing the growth model and tourism governance methods, shifting from quantitative development to quality, efficiency, sustainability and value increase.
Speaking at the conference to implement the Resolution on September 3, Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tra - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister emphasized: "To realize the goal of double-digit growth, contributing to the successful implementation of the country's two 100-year goals, tourism must develop breakthroughs, create spillover effects, contribute to unlocking all resources, and promote other industries and fields to develop together in the spirit of the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress, 10 key Resolutions of the Politburo, and newly issued Resolutions of the 3rd Plenum of the 14th Central Committee.
The core issue is to strongly innovate thinking, approaches, and ways of doing things, focusing on transforming the growth model and tourism management methods from quantity to quality, improving added value for the economy”.
According to the Resolution, by 2030, tourism will directly contribute 10-12% of GDP, welcome 45-50 million international visitors, serve 160 million domestic visitors and achieve total revenue of 80-90 billion USD. This goal puts the tourism industry in front of a big problem: The number of visitors must go hand in hand with the quality of growth, in which the length of stay, spending level and the values tourists use at the destination need to be improved.
Turning "visitable spots" into experiential ecosystems
From a business perspective, many destinations are still mainly limited to sightseeing, while services that increase experience and spending have not developed commensurately.
Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan - General Director of Flamingo Redtours - said that it is necessary to deepen product development right at each destination, while connecting localities to extend the journey: "It is necessary to increase tourist spending by improving the experience. When taking tourists to a tourist destination, it cannot just stop at visiting, but must consider what tourists will experience, what they will learn and what services they will use.
Taking Hanoi as an example, businesses believe that it is necessary to develop products to extend the length of stay from one day to two or three days, even inter-regional connections for a longer journey. Existing values such as cuisine, culture, art, shopping, and health care need to be transformed into experiences that can attract spending.
Looking broadly at the issue, according to Mr. Pham Hai Quynh - Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute (ATI), it is necessary to form a service ecosystem strong enough to generate continuous spending flows throughout the time tourists stay.
Night economy, large-scale art programs associated with Vietnamese culture, high-end MICE, health tourism are areas with a lot of room" - Mr. Quynh said.
This is a direction consistent with the orientation of Resolution 26-NQ/TW when prioritizing high-value products such as sea resorts, health care, high-end sports, MICE, shopping; and connecting tourism with cultural industries such as cinema, music, entertainment, fashion, night economy and cuisine.
Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang are identified as 3 growth poles, playing a leading role in attracting tourists, connecting traffic and coordinating visitor flows; localities need to promote their own advantages, avoid developing duplicate products.
According to Mr. Quynh, the tourism industry needs to reduce dependence on the number of visitors, switching to evaluating by economic efficiency, community livelihoods and resource conservation capacity.
From the reality of the market, shifting from "quantity" to "quality" requires each destination to upgrade products, diversify services, increase connectivity and enhance the value of experience. This is the foundation for tourism to extend stay time, increase spending and create spillover effects for the economy.
