Developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held an online conference on November 28 to implement the Government's Action Programme and the Ministry's Action Plan on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector.

Illustrative Image (Photo: Thai Thien).

The conference was held simultaneously in 63 provinces and cities across the country in response to the Politburo Resolution No.08, issued in January 2017, on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector by 2020.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that the tourism sector has witnessed strong growth over the past few years, contributing positively to the national socio-economic development.

The tourism sector grew by 27% in 2016, receiving approximately 10 million foreign visitors. Vietnam also welcomed 11.7 million foreign arrivals in the first 11 months of this year and the number is estimated to rise to 12.8 million by the end of the year, up 28% over 2016 and up nearly 60% compared to 2015, Thien noted.

The minister emphasised that, with such outstanding performance, the tourism sector has a great opportunity to become a key economic sector in Vietnam, adding that with this rapid growth, the Vietnamese tourism sector would be able to keep pace with other countries in the region including Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

At the conference, representatives from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also introduced the key content of the Government's Action Programme and the Ministry's Action Plan on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector and the Tourism Law 2017 (revised), which was adopted by the National Assembly in June 2017.

Under the Action Programme, the Government has assigned the related ministries and localities to carry out eight key tasks, including the restructuring of the tourism sector, the completion of policy on tourism, and investment in order to upgrade tourism infrastructure, among others.

(Source: NDO)