Home / Tourism Development

Evaluating the Success Level of the State's Role in Building Vietnam's Tourism Development Policy Before and After the Formation of AEC



is the wife, husband, or child of a Vietnamese person residing abroad or of a Vietnamese citizen.

- Directive No. 14/CT-TTg dated July 2, 2015 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the effectiveness of state management, focusing on overcoming weaknesses, and promoting tourism development.

- Decision No. 718/QD-BVHTTDL of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on promulgating the Code of Conduct for civilized tourism on a national scale .

- Decree No. 07/2017/ND-CP dated January 25, 2017 of the Government stipulating the procedures for piloting the issuance of electronic visas for foreigners entering Vietnam.

However, the implementation of the Law and sub-law documents also shows many limitations and shortcomings that affect the goals of the Tourism Development Strategy. Specifically:

Detailed regulations and guidance documents for the implementation of the Law are slow to be developed and promulgated: The Law on Tourism was passed by the National Assembly in 2005, but 2 years later the Government issued Decree No. 92/2007/ND-CP dated June 1, 2007 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Tourism (Decree 92/2007/ND-CP); 3 years later specific guiding circulars were issued. Some documents under the Law lack predictability and stability and need to be amended soon.

Some guiding documents for implementing the Law on Tourism have not yet facilitated the management and operation of tourism, such as: Regulations on interest rates and the use of deposits by international travel agencies; regulations on deduction of fees for granting, changing and revoking tour guide cards; regulations on inspection of tourist transport vehicles. In particular, there are some guiding documents that are not consistent with the content of the Law, such as: purchasing insurance for tourists; regulations on the validity period of the Tour Guide Certificate and the value of the tour guide card; some regulations on tourism business are still unclear.

Tourism is a comprehensive economic sector, in order for tourism business activities to operate synchronously, the development and promulgation of relevant policies to serve tourism development is indispensable. Under the direction of the Government and the State Steering Committee on Tourism, the tourism industry and related sectors jointly develop and implement policies related to tourism such as: Immigration, customs, transportation, finance, currency, national security and defense... to support and remove difficulties; create a more favorable environment for tourism development nationwide.



On November 22, 2016, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on piloting the issuance of electronic visas (e-visas) for foreigners entering Vietnam. Accordingly, the issuance of electronic visas will be implemented within a period of 2 years, effective from February 1, 2017 for citizens of 40 countries. Along with the visa exemption policy of issuing visas at border gates, this is consistent with the 7th content of the ASEAN Tourism Strategy 2016 - 2025, which is " Enhancing the facilitation of tourism (Article 2 of the ASEAN Tourism Agreement 2002)" - one of the effective solutions to increase the attraction of international tourists to Vietnam. All of these are aimed at fully implementing Vietnam's tourism commitments in the AEC.

In particular, the Vietnam Tourism Law No. 09/2017/QH14 dated June 19, 2017 and Resolution 08-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector are, first of all, extremely important premises in implementing the Strategy and Planning for the next phase of Vietnam, while also ensuring participation and full implementation of the goals set out in the ASEAN Tourism Strategy 2016 - 2025.

Table 3.8. Assessment of the success level of the state's role in building Vietnam's tourism development policy before and after the formation of AEC

Results table

Before the formation of AEC

After the formation of AEC

Symbol

DBQ

shared

In there

Symbol

DBQ

shared

In there

M1

M2

M1

M2

BPL1

4.2

4.4

4.0

APL1

4.19

4.3

4.08

BPL3

3.96

4.2

3.72

APL3

3.98

4.1

3.86

BPL2

3.94

4.1

3.78

APL2

3.75

3.85

3.65

BCS9

4.59

4.4

4.78

ACS9

4.35

4.4

4.3

BCS1

4.58

4.35

4.48

ACS2

4.15

4.0

4.3

BCS2

4.51

4.4

4.62

ACS8

4.0

3.8

4.2

BCS3

4.23

4.1

4.36

ACS1

3.98

4.29

3.78

BCS5

4.14

4.3

4.08

ACS4

3.60

3.83

3.37

BCS8

3.7

3.86

7.54

ACS6

3.48

3.21

3.65

BCS7

3.68

3.33

3.72

ACS5

3.42

3.2

3.64

BCS4

3.63

3.21

4.05

ACS3

3.14

3.1

3.18

BCS6

3.39

3.6

3.28

ACS7

2.51

2.35

2.57

Maybe you are interested!

Evaluating the Success Level of the States Role in Building Vietnams Tourism Development Policy Before and After the Formation of AEC

Source: Analysis results from author's research data



The content of the role of "Building a legal system and tourism development policies" includes 3 evaluation criteria:

BPL1, APL1: Documents and policies related to tourism management are consistent.

issued promptly, effectively and efficiently

BPL2, APL2: Develop and promulgate standards and regulations in tourism activities to meet practical development requirements.

BPL3, APL3: Documents and policies on tourism are regularly checked; experience is summarized.

After the formation of AEC, the content of the role of "building a legal system and policies for tourism development" with the score coefficient of the assessment criterion APL1: Documents and policies related to tourism management are synchronous, issued promptly, effectively and efficiently is 4.19 points, this is the assessment criterion with the highest score among the criteria for assessing the level of success of the role of building a legal system, mechanisms and policies for tourism development; the assessment criterion with the lowest average score is APL2: Building and promulgating standards and regulations in tourism activities to meet practical development requirements is 3.75 DBQ/5.

When comparing the level of success of the role of "Building a legal system and tourism development policies" before and after the formation of AEC, it shows that: the average score of the two evaluation criteria APL1 and APL2 (4.19/5 and 3.75/5) is lower than BPL1 and BPL2 (4.2/5 and 3.94/5). This is completely logical, because: When AEC was formed, it was accompanied by Agreements; commitments; cooperation agreements that Vietnam had signed, but Vietnamese tourism was still slow to catch up with these changes. Moreover, compared to other countries, the construction and implementation of standards and regulations in Vietnam is weaker, and standards and regulations are a tool for Vietnam to integrate tourism into AEC.

The content of the role of "Effective, open, and preferential tourism development policy" includes 9 evaluation criteria.

BCS1, ACS1: Financial policy BCS2, ACS2: Credit policy BCS3, ACS3: Tax policy BCS4, ACS4: Land policy

BCS5, ACS5: Tourism promotion and advertising policies BCS6, ACS6: Exit, entry and customs policies

BCS7, ACS7: Policy on training and development of tourism human resources



BCS8, ACS8: Policy on application of science and technology

BCS9, ACS9: Policy on building infrastructure and technical facilities for tourism After the formation of AEC, the assessment criteria for ACS9: Policy on building infrastructure and technical facilities for tourism

Infrastructure, technical facilities for tourism with a score of 4.35/5, this is the evaluation criterion with the highest level of success. In fact, tens of billions of USD in foreign direct investment and more than 300,000 billion VND have been invested from 2006 to 2017. The evaluation criterion with the lowest level of success is ACS7: Training policy, development of tourism human resources with a success score of 2.51 (before the formation of AEC, the evaluation criterion BCS7 had a success score of 4.14). This is also completely true, because compared to other countries in ASEAN, Vietnam is a country with human resource quality that is being evaluated as one of the worst factors of Vietnam's tourism. Furthermore, Vietnam will have to participate in the implementation of the ASEAN Tourism Professional Agreement (MRA - TP). If Vietnam's tourism human resources do not improve their professional qualifications, Vietnam's tourism will lose right at home.

According to the report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) published in April 2017, Vietnam's priority for tourism and travel ranked 119/141 countries (up 18 places compared to 2015). This partly reflects the success of the state in issuing policies to facilitate tourism.

Overall study of table 3.8 shows that: Before the formation of AEC, tourism development policies were asked, giving an average score of 3.39 to 4.59. But after the formation of AEC, the evaluation criteria gave an average score of 2.51 to 4.35. In which, criteria ACS2: Credit policy; ACS8: Policy on application of science and technology; ACS4: Land policy; ACS6: Exit, entry and customs policies gave higher average scores than before the formation of AEC. Criteria with lower average scores are ACS1: Financial policy; ACS3: Tax policy; ACS7: Policy on training and development of tourism human resources. In particular, criterion ACS7: Policy on training and development of tourism human resources was rated the lowest, only 2.51 points (before the formation of AEC, it was 3.68 points). This means that managers and businesses both highly appreciate the success of this role of the state. However, in the context of the formation of AEC, international cooperation in tourism is increasingly in a deep and extensive trend, with commitments and agreements that have been, are being and will be implemented, so managers and businesses both expect more from the state's tourism development policies, truly creating a favorable environment for businesses and the community to develop tourism.


On financial policy

The State increases the budget for planning, supporting investment in tourism infrastructure development, tourism promotion activities, protection; restoration of tourism resources and environment, research; application of science and technology, training; development of tourism human resources.

The planning forecasts the demand for investment capital for tourism development in the period of 2013 - 2017 at 1,931 trillion VND (equivalent to 94.2 billion USD). Of which, the budget capital accounts for about 8 - 10% to support the development of infrastructure for national tourist areas, human resource development, promotion and protection of tourism resources and environment. According to the planning, in the first period of 2011 - 2015, the investment demand is about 1,000 billion VND (equivalent to 18.5 billion USD), of which the budget support is about 37 trillion VND. This also marks a change in financial policy for tourism development investment. However, in reality, in the recent period, only the budget support is difficult, not meeting the requirements. Therefore, the effectiveness of supporting the development of infrastructure for tourist areas is still limited.

About credit policy

The implementation of preferential loans with low interest rates to develop tourism and tourism services has contributed to encouraging businesses to invest in a number of services, upgrade toilets, and build resting places for tourists.

With the major goal of connecting the tourism space to expand to ASEAN countries, many preferential credit policies have been implemented to finance medium and long-term capital for infrastructure investment projects connecting tourism to inter-provincial and inter-national tourist routes. At the same time, many funding programs for green projects such as eco-tourism models, community tourism and projects combining to create new livelihoods for people affected by saltwater intrusion, associated with responding to the impacts of climate change have also been implemented.

This shows that the credit policy will open up opportunities for Vietnam to effectively implement Strategic Orientation 2 of the ASEAN Tourism Strategy 2016 - 2025: "Ensuring the sustainability and comprehensiveness of ASEAN Tourism".

About tax policy

Many policies related to contractor tax, land use fees, land rent for hotel operations, tax policies related to tourism business activities, regulations on importing specialized equipment and means of transport.



The necessary regulations to develop high-end tourism that cannot be produced domestically have been issued such as: Circular 130/2016/TT-BTC; Circular 99/2016/TT-BTC on VAT refund and Decree 139/2016/ND-CP on business license fees applied from 2017.

Thus, in recent times, the government has promptly issued policies and also provided specific regulations and guidelines for the implementation of these policies. This has made great contributions to removing difficulties related to regulations on land use tax, land rent, import of tourism equipment, etc., creating more favorable conditions for tourism business activities.

On land policy

The Government has issued Resolution 92/2014/NQ-CP on a number of solutions to promote the development of Vietnam's tourism in the new period, including solutions to reduce land use tax and land rent for investment projects in accommodation facilities and tourist areas that use large areas for landscape space.

The State builds incentive mechanisms, applies special land mechanisms to some localities, attracts investment, to form some key national tourist areas with international competitiveness, creating motivation for Vietnamese tourism to effectively and successfully integrate into AEC tourism.

On tourism promotion policy

Tourism promotion is identified as one of the important solutions to enhance the image and position of Vietnamese tourism in the international arena, attract investment and tourists, and contribute to the successful implementation of the Strategy and Master Plan for Vietnam tourism development. Therefore, many policies to support tourism promotion have been issued, including the 2017 Tourism Law, visa exemption policy and e-visa.

Tourism product promotion by tourism enterprises is also focused on in the national tourism promotion program. Promotional activities are mainly through tourism fairs, market launching campaigns, survey trips, Famtrips, presstips; Vietnamese cultural day events abroad;... However, the investment budget for tourism promotion from the budget is not satisfactory, in 2016 it was 2 million USD (Thailand is 69 million USD, Malaysia 105 million USD, Singapore 80 million USD, Indonesia 200 million USD, Philippines 54 million USD), so the marketing effect is only at a certain level, there is no in-depth promotion to pursue the target market, and the Vietnamese tourism brand has not been developed.



Also during this period, the General Department of Tourism officially introduced the website "Promoting Vietnam Tourism" (www.vietnamtourism.vn) in three languages: Vietnamese, English, Japanese. In addition, "Application of electronic marketing (E-marketing)" is one of the breakthrough tasks of the tourism industry in this work. The official launch of the Vietnam tourism promotion channel on Youtube also contributes to strengthening the propaganda and promotion of information about Vietnam tourism on the media, contributing to meeting the needs of domestic and foreign audiences to follow tourism programs and news.

In order to create conditions for localities and tourism businesses to proactively participate in domestic and international tourism promotion activities, the General Department of Tourism has issued a plan to implement annual tourism promotion activities and requested localities and tourism businesses to respond and participate in activities organized by the General Department of Tourism, contributing to improving the effectiveness of promotion and promotion activities of the tourism industry.

However, the organization, content, and resources for promotion are still limited. Vietnam's tourism promotion activities abroad only focus on promoting the image, not creating and promoting specific products and tourism brands, and the effectiveness of tourism promotion is still limited.

Vietnam's tourism promotion activities have only reached a small part of the international public, and the budget for tourism promotion in the international market is too low (about 2 million USD/year).

On human resource training and development policy

Human resource development training is considered one of the important solutions in the Vietnam tourism development strategy for the period up to 2020, with a vision to 2030, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 2473/QD-TTg dated December 30, 2011. Recognizing the role of human resources in Vietnam tourism development, the project "Planning for human resource development in the tourism industry for the period 2011-2020" has been implemented and approved by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Decision No. 3066/QD-BVHTTDL dated September 29, 2011.

One of the remarkable results in tourism training activities in Vietnam is the construction and operation of a system of assessment and certification of occupations according to the Vietnam Tourism Skills Standards System (VTOS) for 13 occupations with the support of the European Community. This is a positive result of integration, contributing to improving the integration capacity of Vietnam's tourism. This is the basis for tourism human resources to be trained with widely recognized skills and professional qualifications; can move



and find jobs within the framework of ASEAN cooperation. Despite international support, especially from the EU, the training of Vietnamese tourism human resources to meet regional standards, according to the MRA - TP Agreement on Tourism Professions, is still very limited. Up to now, there has been no consensus on the comprehensive and systematic determination of output standards to meet regional and international standards for tourism training levels in Vietnam, which can be used as a basis for setting minimum requirements for tourism training institutions. This can be considered a fundamental factor limiting the capacity of Vietnamese tourism training to reach international standards, especially in the context of a large difference in tourism training programs at all levels, between current tourism training institutions in Vietnam.

* On science and technology application policy

Research and application of science and technology in the tourism industry has been actively and widely deployed in all areas of the industry's activities and at research and training facilities; and tourism businesses.

- Decision 4227/QD-BVHTTDL of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued on November 29, 2013 on Approving the Strategy for Science and Technology Development in the Culture, Sports and Tourism Sector for the 2013 - 2020 Period, with a Vision to 2030

- Decision 1671/QD-TTg on Approval of the " Overall project on application of information technology in the tourism sector for the period 2018 - 2020, with a vision to 2025" , issued on November 30, 2018

The tourism industry has also begun to prepare to respond to the 4.0 industrial revolution. Information and communication technology is widely applied as one of the important and necessary factors for tourism development management. All Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Department of Tourism and most travel companies across the country widely use information and communication technology. ICT-based management software is deployed in the immigration information management system, internal email system, etc. Activities of applying science and technology include: Application in investigation and assessment of tourism resources, resource protection; tourism environment, application in statistics, in tourism promotion.

Although there has been interest in research, deployment and application of science and technology in tourism development, the results achieved are still limited and have not met the requirements of the increasingly high development of tourism:

Comment


Agree Privacy Policy *