Ho Chi Minh City - Three breakthroughs in developing "super cities" - Part 9: Step by step affirming the brand of a classy cultural - sports center

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City entered the development journey with a great aspiration: to become a modern cultural and sports center, not only imbued with national identity but also reaching out to the international community. That aspiration is expressed through the determination to restructure and comprehensively upgrade from the cultural industry to the sports field, creating momentum for the development of the identity of the "super city" Ho Chi Minh City.

The 2025 Vietnam Open International Badminton Tournament was held at Nguyen Du Gymnasium (HCMC). Photo: DUNG PHUONG

Cultural industry: shape and imprint

With its position as the largest economic and cultural center in the country, Ho Chi Minh City is taking strong steps to turn culture into a new driving force for development. From the Cultural Industry Development Strategy for the 2020-2035 period to the Cultural Industry Development Project to 2030, Ho Chi Minh City has demonstrated its determination to build an advanced, integrated and creative culture, harmoniously linked with urban economic development. This is the basis for the cultural industry to become a spearhead industry, raising the image of Ho Chi Minh City on the creative map of the region and the world.

In the past 5 years, efforts to develop the cultural industry in Ho Chi Minh City have left many marks, creating momentum for a breakthrough path. A series of art programs with Ho Chi Minh City's own brand have appeared more and more: Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival (Ho Do), two seasons of Vietnam Music Week, GENfest Music Festival (Multi-sensory Music Portal)... Ho Chi Minh City has also become the destination of many large domestic and international music programs, such as The Wild Dreams by Westlife at Thong Nhat Stadium; Inviolate World Tour by guitar legend Steve Vai at Nguyen Du Stadium (first stop in Southeast Asia); BridgeFest 2023...

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen The Dung, former Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture, commented: “Ho Chi Minh City has many advantages to develop cultural products, services, cultural industries, and creative industries of the whole country. The city is focusing all resources for development (including cultural resources) and orienting itself to become a cultural center of Southeast Asia by 2030, and an attractive global destination by 2045, with distinctive cultural development.”

The film industry is targeted as a key sector in the development roadmap of the cultural industry, contributing to completing the dossier to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Ho Chi Minh City currently plays the role of the country's film center, standing out with its strong socialization mark over the past two decades. The city accounts for about 40% of the country's film market share ( Hanoi accounts for about 30%), with dozens of dynamic film studios and private production facilities, creating jobs for tens of thousands of workers.

In parallel with organizing events and developing creative industries, Ho Chi Minh City pays special attention to building and upgrading a system of modern cultural institutions to serve the enjoyment needs of the people, while creating a creative space for artists. The city is implementing the construction of the Ho Chi Minh City Symphony - Music - Ballet Theater in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, with a scale of more than 1,700 seats; inaugurating the Phu Tho Circus and Multi-purpose Performance Theater, with an area of ^{​​10,000m2} , a total investment of 1,395 billion VND with many international standard equipment; upgrading the Ho Chi Minh City General Science Library towards a digital library, digitizing about 6 million pages of digital documents. In addition, Ho Chi Minh City has developed an information portal system connecting the entire public library system, connected through 22 website branches with the library; expanding the ability to look up information resources through the information portal for the community; Strengthening connections between university and high school libraries; promoting the collection and digitization of ancient, rare and indigenous documents...

These steps show that Ho Chi Minh City is not only setting simple economic goals, but is also positioning its identity, brand and “soft power”, reinforcing the belief that culture can become the driving force for the city to reach regional and world levels.

Pioneering sports restructuring

Ho Chi Minh City is known as one of the leading sports centers in the country. At the conference to review the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of 2025 of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Nam Nhan shared his views on developing physical education and sports in the city in the new situation: from the post-merger organizational structure to the modern grassroots sports network management model.

Ho Chi Minh City will have to carry out a strategic visionary mission: to form a "super sports center" of the country, contributing to the development of Vietnamese sports in the new era. That is also one of the goals of sports development stated in the political report of the 4th Congress of the Party Committee of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City (term 2025-2030); accordingly, investing in improving achievements, building the city into a major sports center of the country, ensuring sufficient conditions to organize regional and world sports events and activities.

Pioneering international sporting events (such as the international athletics, marathon, Golden Racket table tennis tournament) and current activities (such as the International Martial Arts Festival, Vietnam Open badminton tournament, Vietnam Dancesport Festival) have opened up the definition of sports economy in the city named after Uncle Ho. These events not only attract athletes from many countries to participate, but also generate large revenues from sponsorship contracts, sports products, sports services and attract international tourists, contributing to a significant increase in the city's budget revenue. For example, the 2024 Teqball World Championship hosted by Ho Chi Minh City for the first time - an international sporting event with a wide influence. According to statistics from the organizing committee, this event reached 470 million potential customers globally, an increase of 400% compared to the previous year and was broadcast by the media in 74 countries, breaking the record for Teqball. The total media value reached 2.1 million USD, an increase of more than 200% compared to the previous event in Bangkok (Thailand). These figures not only reflect the media effectiveness but also clearly demonstrate the economic value that an international sports event can bring to Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Dr. Ly Dai Nghia, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Sports Training and Competition Center, major sporting events in Ho Chi Minh City bring significant economic benefits through promoting sports tourism. Ho Chi Minh City can take advantage of the opportunity to develop more strongly in the fields of sports tourism, marine sports economy and support services. In addition, supporting industries such as advertising, media, retail and medical services, sports rehabilitation will have the opportunity to develop rapidly, contributing to enriching the sports economic picture in the city.

From cultural industry to sports, Ho Chi Minh City is clearly demonstrating its determination to restructure and comprehensively upgrade to become a creative, dynamic and integrated "super city". The parallel investment in new industries, modern cultural and sports infrastructure, and a system of policies to encourage socialization have opened up a sustainable direction for the city. This is not only a preparation for the future of a knowledge-based economy, but also affirms the identity and "soft power" of Ho Chi Minh City - the leading economic, cultural and sports center of the country, aiming to become a creative hub of Southeast Asia by 2030 and a global destination by 2045, realizing the international aspirations of a young and dynamic "super city".

Ms. NGUYEN THI THANH THUY, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City:

Space and market for creative community

Along with organizing brand-affirming events, Ho Chi Minh City is also a market that attracts literary and artistic activities. New creative space models not only reflect the diversity in cultural and artistic approaches but also contribute significantly to the development of local creative communities, thereby spreading influence regionally and internationally.

Mr. NGUYEN NAM NHAN, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City:

Sport for social and economic value

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City will have more resources, institutions, and endogenous strength to build a modern, unique sports center with nationwide influence. This is a step in line with the vision of the Vietnamese sports industry in the coming period: transforming from the model of "sports for medals" to "sports for social and economic values" and moving towards Olympicized, professionalized, and modernized sports.

NGUYEN ANH - THIEN THANH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tphcm-ba-dot-pha-phat-trien-sieu-do-thi-bai-9-tung-buoc-khang-dinh-thuong-hieu-trung-tam-van-hoa-the-thao-dang-cap-post817595.html