Nghị quyết 08-NQ/TW

POLITBURO’S RESOLUTION

ON DEVELOPING TOURISM INTO A KEY ECONOMIC SECTOR

I- SITUATIONAL REVIEW

Over the past fifteen years, the tourism industry has made remarkable progress and achieved important and very encouraging results. The growth rate of international tourists reached 10.2% each year while that of domestic tourists reached 11.8% each year. In 2016, the number of international tourists reached 10 million, which is 4.3 times more than that reported in 2001; the number of domestic tourists reached 62 million, which is increased by 5.3 times compared to 2001; direct contribution to GDP was estimated at 6.8% while both indirect and sparse contribution to GDP was estimated at 14%. Tourism infrastructure and technical facilities meeting the needs of the tourism industry is growing more and more. Tourism products and services are increasingly diverse and assorted. Service quality and professionalism are increasing step by step.  Tourism business forces have grown in both quantity and quality, creating a number of reputable domestic and international brands. A number of tourist areas and sites have primarily come into existence.

The development of the tourism industry has been contributing to promoting the shift in the economic structure and on-the-spot exports; preserving and promoting the values ​​of cultural heritage and natural resources; creating more jobs and improving people's lives; speeding up the process of international integration, communicating and advertising the Vietnamese image and people.

However, the tourism industry contains several limitations and weaknesses. The tourism industry’s growth has yet to correspond to its potentials, advantages and social expectations. Tourism products have not been really captivating, distinctive and their competitiveness is not too high.  Tourist service quality has not yet met requirements. Efficiency and effectiveness of state management in the tourism industry have not been great. There are a lot of issues existing in terms of tourism environment, food and traffic safety. Tourism promotion and advertisement are afflicted with a lot of limitations in terms of resources, coordination, professionalism and low effectiveness. Workforce in the tourism industry is insufficient and unqualified. Tourist companies are mainly small and medium enterprises; capital, human resources and business administration experience are still restricted. Social roles in the tourism growth have not yet been promoted. 

The above-mentioned limitations and weaknesses are mainly attributed to the fact that regulatory authorities at all levels and sectoral administrations have not really considered tourism as an economy which is integrative, interdisciplinary, inter-regional, needs a lot of social contributions and high international integration, and brings about deep cultural contents; the fact that there is a shortage in appropriate national policies for tourism development in line with the characteristics of an economic industry operating according to market rules. Tourism development institutions and policies have not yet met growth needs and are still heavily affected by the state subsidization perception. Effective interdisciplinary and inter-regional coordination remains low; investments are still scattered and social resources that need to be pooled for tourism development are just a few. Human resource training and development activities have not been paid attention in a due manner.

II - VIEWPOINTS AND OBJECTIVES

1- Viewpoints

- Development of the tourism industry into a key economic sector is an important strategic orientation for the country's development and creating a driving force for the development of other industries and sectors. Despite this, tourism is not necessarily a key economic sector at every locality.

- The tourism industry must be developed into a general service sector of the economy that has the interdisciplinary and inter-regional nature, operates with central and key tasks and purposes, has its own brand and high competitiveness; has a lot of social participations and deep cultural contents; strengthens domestic and international linkages, pays attention to the linkage between the tourism industry and other branches and domains in the value chain forming tourism products.

- Developing both international and domestic tourism at the same time; creating favorable conditions for local people and international tourists to visit, discover and explore landscapes, natural and cultural heritage sites nationwide; respecting and treating tourists from all markets in an equal manner.

- Determining on the sustainable tourism development; conserving and promoting exquisite cultural relics and traditional values; protecting environment and nature; duly solving labor, employment and social security issues; guaranteeing national defense, security, social order and safety.

- Tourism development is the responsibility of the entire political system, regulatory authorities at all levels, sectors and the whole society, together with the leadership and close guidance of the Party’s committees at all levels; the goal of growing the tourism industry may be supported by strongly promoting the motivation role of enterprises and the community, the unified management of the State, and concentrating all available national resources for tourism development.

2- Objectives

- By 2020, the tourism industry will have basically become the key sector of the economy, created a driving force for the socio-economic development; will have professionalism and a relatively synchronous and modern technical and material infrastructure system; will create tourism high-quality, diverse, branded products which are imbued with national cultural identity and can compete with countries in the region.

The tourism industry is expected to attract 17-20 million visits of international tourists, 82 million visits of domestic tourists; contribute to over 10% of GDP, gain USD 35 billion in total revenue from tourists; reach USD 20 billion in export value through tourism activities; create 4 million jobs, including 1.6 million direct jobs.

- By 2030, the tourism industry will strive to really become a key economic sector of the economy that strongly promotes the development of other sectors and fields. Vietnam will be ranked as one of the top Southeast Asia countries with a developed tourism industry.

III- DUTIES AND SOLUTIONS

1- Refreshing awareness and conception of the tourism growth

Gaining a clear recognition that the tourism industry is a general service sector of the economy that is of an inter-sectoral and inter-regional, and involves a lot of social contributions and has profound cultural contents; is able to make great contributions to the economic growth, create more jobs, lead to a shift in the structure of economic sectors and serve as a driving force for development of other industries and fields, bring about efficiency in multiple aspects such as economy, culture, society, politics, foreign affairs, security and national defense.

Robustly changing perception of the tourism development and develop tourism according to the law of the market economy, ensuring consistency amongst the perspective, goals, action programs, and formulating innovative policies and systems to meet requirements for development of the tourism industry into a key economic sector.

Raising awareness of building and protecting images and environment among the public, enterprises and communities, contributing to the sustainable growth, constantly improving the reputation, brand and attractiveness of Vietnam's tourism.

2- Restructuring the tourism industry to ensure professionalism, modernity and sustainable development in accordance with the rules of market economy, and international integration

Perfect the structure of the tourism industry, ensuring that the growth of the tourism industry is aligned with the overall development of the national economy.

Review and modify tourism development strategies and planning schemes with a view to pooling necessary resources to build areas serving as driving forces for the tourism development.

Develop and implement the Program on restructuring of the tourism industry with a view to giving priority to investments in tourism infrastructure development; linking input value chains of various industries; focusing on developing marine, island, cultural, spiritual, ecological and community-based tourism products that are attractive and highly competitive; controlling and improving the quality of tourism products and services in order to make them become modern and distinct; innovating methods and improving the effectiveness of promotion activities associated with products and markets; guaranteeing a safe and civilized tourism environment.

Provinces and centrally-affiliated cities that have potentials and advantages to develop tourism must imperatively formulate projects on restructuring of their local tourism industries.

3- Improving institutions and policies

Continue to improve the legal system; adopt appropriate and innovative mechanisms and policies to develop tourism into a key sector of the economy that suits the requirements and nature of the general economic sector and operates according to the market mechanism. Adopt mechanisms and policies to make best use of social resources available for investment in the tourism industry according to the guidelines on restructuring of the tourism industry.

For the time being, revise, improve and perfect policies directly related to the growth of the tourism industry:

- In the investment aspect, adopt incentive policies and preferential treatment for investments in tourism, especially in major, remote and isolated areas having the potential for tourism development, specific tourism products, and tourism workforce training and development. Increase public – private partnership in order to call for social resources available for the tourism development. The State funds must prefer investments in setting up planning schemes and training workforce and carrying out promotional events.

- In the financial aspect, change the entrance fee mechanism into the service charge mechanism; adjust electricity prices applied to tourist accommodation establishments to be equal to those applied to production activities; adopt appropriate policies on the land use tax and land rents for tourism projects affected by low factors of land used for construction and land used for construction of buildings subject to height limits, and policies for land plots used for construction of dormitories and apartment buildings for tourism workers at places where human resources are limited; create favorable conditions for tourist’s claim for VAT refunds.

Formulate and adopt a mechanism for effective management and use of the Tourism Development Assistance Fund. The state budget shall provide initial support for the Fund and shall be supplemented annually with revenues, including entry visa fees, entrance and sightseeing fees, contributions from businesses, tourists and other lawful sources.

- In the aspect of entry procedures, continue to improve and promulgate policies on most facilitative and simple entry visa procedures for international tourists coming to Vietnam.

- For urgent matters that need to be dealt with immediately to create a breakthrough for the tourism development, in the absence of legal documents, or unless otherwise prescribed, pilot implementation of this Program will be allowed.

4- Investing in tourism infrastructure and technical facilities meeting the tourism industry’s needs

Devote appropriate resources derived from the state budget to investment in transport infrastructure development, especially in key and motivation areas; improve traffic connectivity to tourist sites or attractions, control service quality and ensure traffic safety for tourists. Invest in rest stops along toads. Push the implementation of the “sky-opening” policy and carry out the 5^th Freedom of The Air; create conditions for airlines to open new routes connecting Vietnam to source markets, increasing the frequency of existing flights; address bottlenecks and overcrowding at airports. Focus on investing in a number of specialized seaports and inland ports in areas having favorable conditions for development of sea and river tourism. Improve rail infrastructure and quality of rail services provided to tourists.

Increase mobilization of social resources to invest in the development of the system of material and technical facilities in the tourism industry. Encourage strategic investors to make their investments in forming complex tourism service areas, large-scale tourism service projects, high-quality shopping and entertainment centers in key areas.

5- Increasing tourism promotion and promotion activities

Innovate communication and promotion methods and contents, enhance the application of modern technologies, ensure the unified and professional implementation and improve the effectiveness in performing domestic and foreign tourism promotion activities. Build and position the national tourism brand associated with the key and unique image imbued with the national cultural identity.

Combine the use of State resources and mobilize the participation of the whole society in tourism promotion activities.

Enhance the roles and responsibilities of Vietnamese missions and chambers of commerce located abroad in carrying out tourism promotion activities. Encourage tourism businesses to set up their overseas representative offices. Promote the roles of overseas Vietnamese communities in tourism promotion activities.

Promote the roles of media agencies, create breakthroughs in domestic market promotion activities in combination with raising awareness about the roles and positions of the tourism industry.

6- Creating favorable conditions for corporate and social involvement in the tourism development

Promote administrative reform, create a healthy, transparent and equal competitive environment providing favorable conditions for tourism businesses. Encourage businesses to innovate, innovate and diversify tourism categories and products in accordance with the orientation of restructuring the tourism industry. Support tourism startup businesses, especially those located in remote and isolated areas. Put more emphasis on protecting intellectual property rights for tourism businesses; impose strict penalties on unhealthy competition acts.

Create favorable conditions for people to directly participate in business and benefit from tourism; adopt policies to support the community-based tourism development. Enhance the roles of community, build a tourism community that can treat tourists in a civilized and friendly manner; promote the role of professional social organizations related to tourism.

7- Developing tourism human resources

The State shall implement policies to attract investments in training tourism human resources; capacity building for tourism training institutions, even in terms of training technical facilities, contents, programs and staff. Promote social involvement and international cooperation, and attract resources to develop tourism human resources.

Diversify tourism training programs.  Promote the application of advanced science and technology in tourism workforce training and education activities.

Improve the quality of human resources both in state management, business administration and tourism employment. Focus on improving occupational skills, foreign language command ​​and professional ethics for the tourism workforce.

Complete the national set of standards for tourism profession compatible with the one included ASEAN standards; establish the National Committee on Tourism and the Tourism Certification Council.

8- Strengthening tourism-related state management capacity and effectiveness

Complete the legal system on tourism and related fields to facilitate tourism development; complete the system of national standards and regulations in the field of tourism with the aim of regional and international integration; improve the quality of the tourism development planning.

Consolidate the state management system over the tourism industry to ensure synchronization, professionalism, effectiveness and efficiency, meeting the requirements of inter-sectoral and inter-regional management of tourism activities; promote the role of the National Steering Committee on Tourism.

Improve competence, responsibilities and powers of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Establish tourism agencies at localities seeing potentiality for growing the tourism industry in conformance to the regulatory requirement under which no more tenured posts are accepted. 

Conduct researches into application of personnel and administrative models and systems particularly designed for the tourism industry that meet the tourism growth needs in the new context.

Increase specialized inspections, assessments and quality controls over hotels, travel agencies, tour guides and other tourism establishments; imperatively apply information technology advances to tax and fee management activities to prevent any loss incurred from tourism activities. 

Raise responsibilities of heads of Party’s committees and local authorities at all levels for implementation and management of tourism activities; eradicate any disturbance, annoyance and robbery that frightens tourists; guarantee environmental hygiene and food safety, and make tourism become a civilized, safe and friendly environment. 

Boost international cooperation, make best use of potentialities, advantages, opportunities and available resources for tourism development and linkage between Vietnamese tourism and tourism in other regional and worldwide countries, and deal with difficulties that the Vietnamese tourism industry may face.

IV - IMPLEMENTATION

1- Party’s committees having authority over provinces or cities, Party’s subcommittees, Party’s staff subcommittees, other Party delegations and centrally-affiliated Party’s committees shall communicate and ensure thorough understanding of this Resolution; shall, within their powers and duties, develop and implement plans and action programs for implementation of this Resolution. 

Party’s staff subcommittees of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall have the burden of taking charge of educating, developing and carrying out the action program for implementation of this Resolution in the tourism industry.

National Assembly's Party Delegation shall lead revision, supplementation or issuance of laws, ordinances and create legal bases favorable for development of the tourism industry into a key sector of the economy.

3- Party’s staff subcommittee of the Government shall take charge of formulating and carrying out the action program for implementation of this Resolution; inspecting, expediting and periodically reporting to the Politburo on implementation of this Resolution.  The National Steering Committee on Tourism shall preside over cooperation between ministries, sectoral administrations and local authorities in implementing this Resolution.