Vietnam PM calls for national tourism to become leading economic sector

Vietnam’s culture, sports, and tourism sectors have recorded notable gains, with policy bottlenecks eased, development resources unlocked, and tourism emerging as a bright spot, officials said at a government meeting last week.

Traditional culture and heritage have been preserved and promoted; high-performance sports maintained positive momentum; and 38.2 percent of the population now exercise regularly, according to reports presented at PM Hung's meeting with the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

Vietnam welcomed a record 21.5 million international visitors and generated about VND1 quadrillion (US$38 billion) in tourism revenue in 2025, the ministry said.

Authorities also proposed decentralizing 36 administrative procedures to provincial and commune levels, in line with a cap of 30 percent; cutting 30 percent of conditional business lines; eliminating all unnecessary business conditions; and reducing compliance costs by 52.23 percent and processing times by 50.03 percent from 2024 levels.

Concluding the meeting, PM Hung urged a shift away from rigid administrative thinking toward a more facilitative, service-oriented approach, calling for bold, proactive policy proposals to implement major party and government directives.

He also stressed the need to institutionalize key policies, accelerate a national target program on culture, and pursue focused investment to boost sports development.

Hung called for restructuring the tourism sector to enhance quality and competitiveness, aiming to turn it into a key economic driver, with targets of 25 million foreign visitors and 150 million domestic travelers in 2026.

PM Hung said the culture, sports, and tourism sectors are critical to achieving double-digit economic growth, noting that a surge in international arrivals would boost spending on aviation, hotels, and food services with limited environmental impact.

Amid global and regional volatility, he described Vietnam as a safe destination with strong potential to attract more foreign visitors, but he stressed the need for breakthrough measures and warned against a situation in which most tourism revenue flows to foreign partners.

Hung demanded stronger state management and a greater role for the media in guiding public opinion and safeguarding the Communist Party of Vietnam's ideological foundation, while improving the quality and effectiveness of grassroots information.

On specific tasks, he urged ministries to accelerate cuts, decentralization, and simplification of administrative procedures and business conditions, and to refine legal frameworks across all sectors, including laws on sports, tourism, cinema, libraries, and cultural heritage.