Cultural industries to contribute significantly to economic growth
Cultural industries, still having much room to develop and contribute more to the national economy, are being considered an important resource to be maximised to boost the GDP growth.
In a resolution on the outcomes of the Government’s June meeting and its teleconference with localities on July 10, the Government called on ministries, sectors, localities, businesses, and the entire society to further strive in the remaining months of this year to achieve the yearly GDP growth rate of 6.5-7% and to maintain development momentum for 2025.
In challenging objective and subjective conditions, promoting GDP growth is not easy, so all available resources must be brought into full play, the Government stressed.
It defines cultural industries as encompassing 12 sectors: advertising; architecture; software and entertainment games; handicrafts; design; cinema; publishing; fashion; performing arts; fine arts, photography, and exhibition; television and radio broadcasting; and cultural tourism.
The National Target Programme for Cultural Development for the 2025-2035 period aims to develop culture into an intrinsic strength of the economy. By 2035, the cultural industries are expected to contribute 8% to the national GDP.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the production value of Vietnam's cultural industries in the 2018 - 2022 period neared VND1.1 quadrillion (US$43.4 billion). Their added value to the economy reached 6.02% in 2019. However, the figure decreased to 4.32% and 3.92% in 2020 and 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 and 2023, they began to recover, contributing more than 4% to the country's GDP annually.
Over the recent years, the cultural industries in the country have gained certain achievements, with their products increasingly diverse, many of which have high values, creating a reputation domestically and internationally.
The country has also seen increases in the numbers of businesses and workers involved in the cultural industries. In the 2018-2022 period, the number of economic establishments operating in these industries increased by 7.2% annually, while the workforce grew by 7.4% annually, attracting approximately 2.3 million workers, accounting for 4.42% of the total labour force.
Currently, six out of the 12 cultural industry sectors are experiencing significant growth.
The film industry, in particular, is showing a rapid development with an average annual production value increase of 8.03%. Young people constitute 80% of the cinema audience, indicating substantial potential for the sector to grow further. In 2023, the total revenue from the more than 25 Vietnamese films released reached VND1.56 trillion. marking the first year when domestic films held over 42% of the market share in Vietnam's film industry.
Last year, revenue from cultural tourism was nearly VND38 trillion out of the total tourism revenue of VND672 trillion.
In the performing arts sector, creative, arts, and entertainment activities in the 2018-2022 period saw an average production value increase of 5.59%. There are currently 130 theaters and professional art troupes nationwide.
Meanwhile, the fine arts, photography, and exhibition sector has experienced an average production value increase of 6.5%.
In 2022, advertising revenue approximated US$2.19 billion. The growth rate of the domestic advertising market was 12.7%, ranking fifth among the ASEAN countries.
Resources for developing cultural industries are diverse and rich, as Vietnam has both material resources such as natural landscapes, historical landmarks, festivals, and traditional handicrafts; and non-material ones such as cultural identity of the Vietnamese people, their creativity and characters, and intangible cultural heritage.
