Tourism and culture continue to be bright spots
On July 9, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) organized a conference to summarize the work in the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of 2026. The conference was held directly at the MCST headquarters and online to 34 bridge points in provinces and cities across the country and 2 bridge points at the Ministry's Representative Office in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh said that 2026 is the first year of implementing the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress, and at the same time deploying many new tasks, focusing on implementing Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW of the Politburo on developing Vietnamese culture and Resolution No. 28/2026/QH16 of the National Assembly in the context of promoting decentralization, delegation of power and digital transformation.
According to the Minister, the new context requires the entire sector to innovate management thinking, improve institutional quality and organizational efficiency.
Culture must truly become a foundation, an internal resource and a driving force for national development; Sports must contribute to enhancing Vietnam's stature, health and position; Tourism must continue to affirm its role as a key economic sector, associated with promoting the development of the cultural industry, making important contributions to growth; Press, publishing, grassroots information, and foreign information must promote the role of social orientation, spreading good values, consolidating trust and arousing aspirations for national development," Minister Lam Thi Phuong Thanh emphasized.
According to the report at the conference, in the first 6 months of the year, the work of building and perfecting institutions continued to be identified as a key task. The Ministry submitted to competent authorities to issue 26 documents, including 1 resolution of the Politburo, 1 resolution of the National Assembly, 4 resolutions and 10 decrees of the Government, 10 decisions of the Prime Minister. The Minister also issued 18 circulars according to his authority.
The tourism sector continues to be a bright spot when Vietnam welcomed nearly 12.3 million international visitors, an increase of nearly 15% compared to the same period last year and reaching 49.2% of the year plan. Total revenue from tourism is estimated at 569 trillion VND, an increase of 9.8%.
In addition, activities to preserve and promote the value of cultural heritage are effectively implemented; the mass sports movement is strongly developed, high-performance sports have many bright spots; the cultural industry and entertainment industry have recorded many new creative products. Cultural foreign affairs, international cooperation, digital transformation and innovation have also achieved many positive results.
Focus on removing "bottlenecks", creating breakthroughs in the last 6 months of the year
Besides the achieved results, Minister Lam Thi Phuong Thanh acknowledged that the sector still faces many difficulties and challenges such as the quality of implementation in some localities is not uniform, the progress of some tasks is still slow, and the capacity for advising and organizing implementation of some units is still limited.
According to the Minister, the requirement to improve the quality of the staff, innovate management, promote the application of science and technology, innovation and digital transformation is posing urgent requirements for the entire industry.
At the conference, the Minister requested units to properly assess the actual results achieved, clearly point out shortcomings and causes, and clearly define the responsibilities of each unit and each management level to have effective remedial solutions.
At the same time, the Minister requested to focus on identifying "bottlenecks" in mechanisms and policies and organizing implementation to propose amendments and supplements to legal regulations, creating conditions for the development of culture, sports and tourism in the new period.
In the last 6 months of the year, the industry will prioritize perfecting institutions, promoting administrative reform, decentralization, delegation of power, developing science and technology, digital transformation, building a database system and identifying strategic technology products for each field.
How to implement the national value system, cultural value system, family value system and Vietnamese human standards to truly have a spreading and penetrating effect into social life, contributing to building a healthy cultural environment, consolidating the national endogenetic strength and promoting the development of the cultural industry, promoting tourism economic development to make positive and effective contributions to the double-digit economic growth goals of each locality and the whole country", Minister Lam Thi Phuong Thanh raised the issue.
The Minister also requested delegates to focus on exchanging new solutions, effective models and specific recommendations for the Ministry to study and improve the goals, tasks and solutions in the coming time, ensuring effective implementation.
