Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the “Strategy on Vietnam’s tourism development until 2030”, which seeks to turn tourism into the key economic industry, the Government Portal reported. 

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Under the strategy, Vietnam will perfect its institutions and policies regarding tourism development; promote tourism infrastructure; enhance manpower capacity in the sector; diversify tourism market; upgrade tourism products as well as improve promotional activities and tourism brandings.

The strategy requires revision and amendment of policies, institutions and legal frameworks for tourism development. Preferential policies on land, tax and credits will be issued to mobilize resources for investment in tourist sites cluster, zones of touristic powerhouse and areas of tourism potential.

The strategy proposes the promotion of public-private partnership and other integrated administrative models in public and private sectors, stimulating innovation and the creation of powerful tourism brand and creative start-ups, supporting small and medium sized businesses with strong finance and advanced technologies.

Besides, Vietnam will prioritize labor forces planning and training as well as market research to work out suitable tourist promotion programs and products, protecting the environment, creating favorable policies for inbound and outbound circulation including launching direct flights between Vietnam and potential and key markets.

Airports and seaports across Vietnam will also be expanded and upgraded, information technologies will be reformed and improved; implementation of the digital transformation process will be sped up; information and documents on destinations will be digitized, aiming to form and develop an intelligent tourism ecosystem.

By 2025, Vietnam aims to become an attractive destination, striving to be among the top three countries in tourism development in Southeast Asia and the world’s top 50 countries in terms of tourism competitiveness while all 14 criteria on tourism competitiveness will improve, in line with the requirements of sustainable development.

Total revenue from tourism is set to reach VND1,700 - 1,800 trillion (US$77 – 80 billion), an average growth rate of 13-14% per year. The tourism industry is expected to contribute 12-14% to the GDP, creating about 5.5 – 6 million jobs, of which about 2 million direct jobs, for an average growth of 12-14% per year.

By 2030, Vietnam would welcome at least 50 million international arrivals and cater to 160 million domestic visitors, attaining average growth pace of the former between 8 and 10% and 5-6% of the latter annually.