Building mechanisms and policies to create motivation for tourism to develop quickly and sustainably

NDO - On December 19, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a conference to assess the implementation of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector and implementing the 2017 Tourism Law in person and online, with the participation of representatives of local tourism departments, tourism associations, tourism businesses and related departments and sectors.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong affirmed that Resolution 08-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo and the Tourism Law 2017 are important development policies and orientations of the Party and State to develop tourism commensurate with its potential and strengths and turn tourism into a spearhead economic sector of the country.

Organizing the Conference is an important step to assess the reality, from which to continue to propose appropriate policies and strategies so that tourism can truly become a spearhead economic sector.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong speaks.

At the Conference, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Pham Van Thuy presented a Report on the assessment of the implementation of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW and a Report on the implementation of the Law on Tourism in 2017.

Accordingly, after more than 7 years of implementing Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW, Vietnam tourism has achieved some remarkable results: the number of international tourists has continuously grown at a high rate; the awareness of tourism of the whole society has changed positively; the position of the tourism industry in socio-economic development has been and is being shaped...

“Up to now, tourism has been a bright spot in the country’s socio-economic development. The growth of the industry has had a ripple effect on many other industries and sectors; created a shift in economic structure, boosted exports, contributed to poverty reduction, improved living standards, improved the appearance of urban and rural areas; preserved and promoted national cultural values” - Mr. Pham Van Thuy emphasized.

However, according to the Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the journey to become a key economic sector of the "smokeless industry" in our country still faces many shortcomings, namely: the awareness of local levels and sectors about the task of developing tourism into a key economic sector is not uniform; inter-sectoral and inter-regional coordination is not synchronous, irregular and not tight. Many localities with potential and room for tourism development still lack a clear direction for development, while many localities do not have full potential but still aim to develop tourism into a key economic sector, leading to a situation of scattered investment, inefficiency, causing waste.

In addition, state management has not kept up with reality, especially for new types of tourism; the process of building, amending and supplementing legal documents and policies related to tourism development still has many steps, many procedures, and takes a long time; the coordination mechanism between schools and businesses in training tourism human resources is still limited; although the Vietnamese tourism product system has developed more diversely, the quality of products and services is not high, has not created a classy brand, and has not achieved breakthrough competitiveness...

Regarding the 2017 Law on Tourism, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism stated that after 7 years of implementing the Law, the tourism legal system has generally demonstrated flexibility, timely updating of regulations in accordance with common law and in accordance with tourism development practices; clearly affirming the role of tourism as a comprehensive economic sector with profound cultural content, contributing to economic restructuring, creating favorable conditions and ensuring a sustainable tourism development environment.

In particular, the management of tourism resources, tourist areas, tourist attractions, tourism business activities and tour guides in the area, the work of ensuring security, order, social safety, environment, food safety in tourist areas, tourist attractions, and places with many tourists have achieved more positive results, contributing to gradually improving the quality of tourist destinations and the tourism environment...

Deputy Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Pham Van Thuy presented the report.

However, the implementation of the Law in practice, together with development requirements and changes in market trends, has revealed a number of problems that need to be resolved. For example, some contents of the 2017 Law on Tourism do not fully cover new types of accommodation: tourist campsites, famstays, hospital hotels, capsule hotels, and tourism apartment service business models; there are no criteria or standards for some types of tourism such as farm tourism, agricultural tourism, and cultural tourism villages; there are no regulations on coordination between tourism professional agencies and training institutions in verifying the legality of diplomas and certificates, etc., causing difficulties in the implementation of state management of tourism and policies to attract tourism investment.

In addition, the components of the travel service business license application are still quite simple, the deposit amount is low, and the rights and interests of tourists are not guaranteed when incidents occur. Incentive policies on tourism development are few, slow to implement, short support time, and low efficiency. Regulations on business registration and service management through online platforms such as Airbnb, Agoda, Booking.com, etc. are not clear and not synchronized with legal regulations, etc.

In order to remove "bottlenecks" and create motivation for rapid and sustainable tourism development, delegates attending the Conference contributed many proposals and solutions, focusing on contents such as: promoting administrative reform, improving the tourism investment environment; implementing mechanisms and policies to support tourism development, enhancing national competitiveness in tourism; strengthening public-private cooperation to mobilize social resources for tourism development; proactively researching and forecasting to have plans to train and supplement high-quality tourism human resources; adjusting the 2017 Tourism Law and documents detailing the Law to suit the practical situation, creating a clear legal corridor for state management, contributing to promoting the development of the tourism industry...

The representative of the National Assembly Office commented: It is necessary to have preferential investment policies in the tourism sector; adjust the electricity price applied to tourist accommodation establishments to be equal to the electricity price for production; create conditions for VAT refunds for tourists; pilot urgent issues that need to be implemented immediately to create a breakthrough for tourism development if there are no legal documents regulating...

The representative of the Hanoi Department of Tourism proposed: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should soon develop and implement a digital transformation strategy for the tourism industry, build a centralized data management system connected to the systems of localities; develop technical and economic standards in digital transformation activities; at the same time, have an overall strategy for promoting and advertising Vietnamese tourism in the international market, focusing on the following contents: developing a cooperation plan with a number of large and reputable international media partners to build a comprehensive propaganda and promotion program for Vietnamese tourism on these media channels; coordinate with reputable international brands in the fields serving tourism activities to position the Vietnamese tourism brand towards high quality, serving high-spending customers.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/xay-dung-co-che-chinh-sach-tao-dong-luc-de-du-lich-phat-trien-nhanh-ben-vung-post851458.html