However, tourism in this era of national development needs more than just numbers.
Looking back over the past decade, since the Politburo 's Resolution 08 of 2017 identified tourism as a key economic sector, Vietnam's tourism industry has made significant breakthroughs, especially in attracting international tourists. Specifically, while in 2016 we only welcomed about 10 million international visitors, in the period from 2017 to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of international visitors increased from 12.9 million to 18 million, with an average growth rate of 18.1% per year. By 2025, Vietnam's tourism sector is expected to welcome nearly 21.2 million international visitors, an increase of 20.2% compared to 2024 and exceeding pre-pandemic levels. This growth trend continues through the first four months of 2026 with the number of international visitors reaching nearly 8.8 million, the highest ever. In terms of growth rate, Vietnam leads the Southeast Asian region. It can be said that these are very proud achievements for the domestic tourism industry.
However, throughout that period, the tourism industry has been grappling with the question: "Where should tourists go and what should they buy in Vietnam?" This reveals a gap in exploiting the value of the tourism industry to optimize its effectiveness. Significantly, this gap exists even as the tourism industry invests considerable effort in attracting international tourists to Vietnam. Besides the advantages of tourism resources such as beaches and forests, and destinations consistently ranked highly in prestigious global rankings, we have also strived to build infrastructure, services, products, and promotional campaigns... The problem is, while the number of visitors has grown significantly, spending remains very modest. Simply put, tourism has only increased in quantity, not significantly in quality.
Tourism in the new era of the country, an era where the economy must achieve consistently high growth over a long period to become a wealthy and prosperous nation, requires both quantity and quality. This means we must both increase the number of international tourists visiting Vietnam and optimize the value derived from this source.
The tourism industry recognized this problem early on and proposed various solutions, such as night-time economy projects and the construction of shopping centers. These are considered "gold mines" that would encourage tourists to willingly spend money. However, these projects have been implemented slowly or remain on paper. As a result, international tourists visiting Vietnam for years have simply been sightseeing, eating, and sleeping. They don't know what to spend their money on. People in the tourism industry jokingly say, "They bring money to Vietnam and then take it back," meaning tourists bring money to Vietnam and then take it back home.
Currently, the tourism industry is developing a plan titled "Developing Tourism into a Key Economic Sector in the New Era," aiming to attract 50 million international visitors by 2030. Leaders of the National Tourism Administration affirm that the tourism industry is facing crucial new opportunities for development. The plan also outlines several solutions, including restructuring the market, developing high-value tourism products, and improving the economic efficiency of tourism.
If tourism is accompanied by an increase in the number of international tourists visiting Vietnam, as targeted by the project, which aims to increase tourist spending, then the tourism industry will certainly become a key economic sector, making a strong contribution to the country's economic growth in the new era.
According to NGUYEN MINH (TNO)
Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/nhung-mo-vang-chua-khai-thac-post588284.html
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