Vietnamese tourism’s 63-year journey to become important economic sector

On July 9, 1960, former Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, on behalf of the Government Council of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, signed and promulgated Decree No. 26 regarding the establishment of the Vietnam Tourism Company under the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

According to details given by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, during years of conflict, the birth of the Vietnamese tourism industry was viewed as a historic milestone, reflecting the far-reaching vision of Party and State leaders.

Tourism was identified as a new economic sector in the construction of socialism in northern Vietnam.

Following the complete liberation of southern Vietnam leading to national unification, the tourism sector has recorded plenty of achievements, preserving and developing tourism facilities in newly-liberated provinces and cities along the way.

Simultaneously, it has expanded and built more new facilities in all regions across the nation.

Entering the Doi Moi (Renewal) process, the tourism sector has made great efforts aimed at rising up, developing rapidly in both scale and quality, affirming its important role and position as part of the national economy.

Nearly 20 years later, on January 16, 2017, the Politburo again issued Resolution No. 08 on developing tourism as a means of becoming a spearhead economic sector, clearly demonstrating the full determination of the Party and State on tourism development.

As a result, a host of mechanisms and policies have been implemented at all levels from central to local ones as a mean of attracting investment, improving material and technical facilities and tourism infrastructure, diversifying products, as well as promoting the breakthrough development of the tourism industry in the new period.

Statistics highlight that the system of tourist accommodation establishments nationwide has seen stronger investment, increasing from 350 establishments with 16,700 rooms in 1990 to a total of 30,000 tourist accommodation establishments with 650,000 rooms in 2019.

The team of international travel businesses has also been growing stronger, with 2,667 firms nationwide in 2019, compared to only four enterprises in 2019. In 1990, only 250,000 international tourists came to Vietnam, in contrast to the figure in 2019 when more than 18 million people visited the country, an increase of 72 times.

The annual growth rate typically reached double digits, especially in the 2015 to 2019 period, hitting 22.7% per year and being listed among the highest in the world by the World Tourism Organization.

Elsewhere, domestic tourists surged by 85 times, climbing from one million in 1990 to 85 million in 2019.

Total revenue from the tourism sector in 2019 reached VND755 trillion; contributing 9.2% of GDP and also creating fresh impetus for other industries and fields to further develop. Therefore, tourism has risen to become an important economic sector of the country.

Facing plenty of difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, the nation tourism officially reopened as of March 15, 2022.

According to details given by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, this represented an important turning point creating momentum for the recovery of the sector.

In particular, domestic tourism became a bright spot with 101.3 million arrivals in 2022, a figure higher than the record number of 85 million recorded in 2019.

Continuing the recovery momentum, in the first half of the year the number of international tourists reached nearly 5.6 million arrivals, equivalent to 69% of the annual plan, while domestic tourists hit 64 million arrivals. In line with this, the sector’s total revenue stood at VND 343 trillion.

Data from Google indicates that during the reviewed period the number of searches about Vietnamese tourism continuously increased, from the 11th position to the sixth position at present.

As a result, Vietnam is the only destination in Southeast Asia that falls into this category.

With these outstanding achievements, the nation has been honoured to receive many prestigious international awards.

During the past five years, the nation won the World Travel Awards, was honoured three times as the World's Leading Heritage Destination; five times receiving the title of World's Best Golf Destination; and four times being named as Asia's Top Destination.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has been honoured with Asia's Leading Tourism Management Authority award three times.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Vietnamese tourism development capacity index in 2021 ranked 52nd globally, up eight places compared to 2019, among the top three fastest growing countries in the world.

Recently, at the fifth session of the 15th National Assembly, the legislature officially approved a new visa policy on entry and exit in a bid to facilitate attracting international visitors.

The tourism industry expects this to be a great driving force aimed at promoting the growth of the international tourism market to Vietnam moving forward.