RESOLUTION

ON A NUMBER OF SOLUTIONS TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAM’S TOURISM ON A NEW PERIOD

GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on organization of Government dated June 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 08/2012/NĐ-CP dated February 16, 2012 promulgating governmental working regulations;

Pursuant to the Resolution of the Government’s regular meeting - September 2014 (Resolution No. 74/NQ-CP dated October 4, 2014),

DECISION:

In recent years, with the attention and interest of the Communist Party and the State, the development of tourism has achieved important results, making significant contribution to socio-economic development and economic restructuring; attracting investment; creating many jobs; reducing poverty; raising intellectual; preserving and promoting the value of national cultural heritage; building and promoting the image of the dynamic, friendly and peaceful country, people of Vietnam. However, some indicators such as the growth rate of international tourists went to Vietnam, the social income from tourism, the contribution of the tourism industry in GDP and the competitiveness of Vietnamese tourism are still low compared to other countries in the region.

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The situation of domestic production and business is difficult and investment resources for tourism infrastructure development are low. On the other hand, the awareness of tourism development in many parts of the country is still limited; inter-disciplinary cooperation is ineffective; the roles and responsibilities of all central and local authorities have not been fully fulfilled; the effectiveness of promotion activities is low; only a limited number of markets are available to foreign tourists; tourism and transportation infrastructure have not met development requirements; investment in tourism and some policies to promote tourism development is inadequate and not resolved in time; security, safety and environmental hygiene in some places have not been maintained regularly.

For exploiting and promoting domestic tourism resources effectively, taking advantage of favorable domestic and international opportunities, creating a breakthrough development for the tourism industry in the new period, The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial agencies, the Heads of the Governmental agencies, Presidents of People’s Committees of provinces directly under the Central Government, the professional associations and the tourist business community shall, according to their functions, assign, direct, organize and implement a number of specific solutions and tasks in order to make breakthrough changes in the development of tourism as follows:

1. Raise awareness about tourism development

a) State authorities at levels need to raise awareness that tourism industry is a interdisciplinary, inter-regional industry with deep cultural content and highly invested in by the private sector, which positively influence socio-economic development, contribute to economic restructuring, create jobs, reduce poverty; facilitate tourism development.

b) The Ministry of Information and Communications shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vietnam Television, the Voice of Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency and other mass media agencies in promoting communication activities, creating breakthroughs in raising awareness of the society about tourism development and efficiency of domestic and foreign promotion of tourism.

c) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall take charge of establishing the criteria, organizing the evaluation, ranking and publication of development indicators of tourist destinations.

d) The local authorities, especially in the provinces that have key tourist destinations, shall encourage local people to voluntarily and actively protect the order and security and environmental hygiene; promote the civilized and polite way of life, compliance with the law; build a movement for civilized, open and sincere behavior towards tourists.

2. Increase State support for tourism development

Prioritize investment for tourism to become a key economic sector through execution of programs, schemes and preferential policies.

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b) Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall:

- Take charge of developing the program on tourist development in the 2016-2020 period, submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in the first quarter of 2015 and effectively implement the annual plan of the program; cooperate with relevant Ministries and agencies in studying and proposing specific and breakthrough policies to attract tourists from some potential markets; improve the mechanism of conservation, exploitation and effective use of the heritages.

- Take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Finance in formulating a scheme for tourism development fund from the interdisciplinary sources then submit it to the Prime Minister in 2015.

c) Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

- Take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, other relevant bodies and bodies at the provinces in formulating preferential policies to attract investments, building a number of key national tourist resorts that have international competitiveness for motivating the tourism development in Vietnam.

- Take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism relevant local authorities in increasing state investment in tourism infrastructures, enabling tourists to approach tourist resorts and tourist destinations in the direction of concentrating on national tourist resorts and national tourist spots as determined in the master plan on development of Vietnam's tourism by 2020, while taking into consideration the orientation towards 2030.

d) People's Committees at all levels have the responsibility to provide a favorable environment, take the initiative in providing funds and land area and implement solutions for tourism development; propose the application of land-specific mechanisms, investment capital sources and select strategic investors to develop tourism in accordance with local conditions and characteristics.

3. Ensure security and safety to attract tourists and develop tourism

a) The Ministry of Public Security shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant bodies in reviewing, studying and proposing to expand the number of countries whose citizens are exempt from visas in association with maintaining National security and social order and safety, facilitating visa issuance for international tourists to come to Vietnam.

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c) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall take charge and cooperate with provincial bodies in expanding international tourist markets, reducing dependence on a number of major markets; diversifying and raising the quality and competitiveness of tourism products and services; increasing the length of stay and spending by tourists; adopt appropriate policies to encourage the domestic tourism market to develop and launch the “Người Việt Nam ưu tiên du lịch Việt Nam” campaign (in which Vietnamese people are encourage to use Vietnamese tourism services).

4. Provide support and eliminate difficulties for tourism business

a) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance in examining regulations such as the Law on Investment, the Government’s Decree on guiding the implementation of some Article of Law on Investment…, requesting competent authorities to adjust the level of incentives for investment and business activities in the field of hotels, travel, eco-tourism, community tourism.

b) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and provincial bodies to in reviewing and amending regulations on land allocation and land levies to reduce land levies and land rents incurred by investment projects of accommodation and tourist areas whose landscape design occupies a large area of land.

c) The Ministry of Finance shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and other relevant bodies in examining regulations on the import of equipment and specialized transportations that is necessary for the development of high quality tourism that cannot be domestically manufactured such as hydrofoil, yacht, seaplane, small airplane, hot air balloon that meets international standards..., report to the Government before June 30, 2015.

d) The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall take charge and cooperate with relevant bodies in proposing new electricity prices to Government to facilitate tourism business activities in the second quarter of 2015.

5. Enhance State management on tourism development

a) Strengthen effect and efficiency of state management on tourism from the central to local level; soon amend and supplement the Law on Tourism; strengthen and improve the capabilities of local agencies performing state management of tourism.

b) The Ministry of Public Security shall take charge and cooperate with provincial bodies in formulating and implementing methods to improve the capabilities of performing state management of security and order in tourism; research solutions on organization of forces for security and safety of tourists.

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- Take charge and cooperate with relevant provincial bodies in guiding the railway stations, habours, seaports and means engaged in the transportation of passengers to adequately arrange human resources to ensure environmental hygiene and safety; have friendly attitude; organize information guide, enhance tourists’ convenience as the operational target of the entire transport works.

d) Other Ministries and local authorities:

- Based on their respective functions and assigned tasks, increase in coordinated management of tourism activities at the destination, ensure the hygiene, environment and service quality on the basis assessment and classification of qualities for serving tourists; urgently formulate tourist support centers at national tourist attractions so as to effectively coordinate the operation of ensuring security and safety for tourists, create an impression that Vietnam is a safe, friendly and worthy destination.

dd) People’s Committees of provinces shall direct and organize the effective implementation of the measures for environmental protection, food safety and hygiene; step up the consolidation of security and order and ensure safety for tourists in resorts and tourist attractions.

6. Organization of implementation

a) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall develop an action plan for the implementation of the Resolution; urge and inspect the process; aggregate and assess the preliminary review of the implementation of the Resolution and report to the Prime Minister in December every year.

b) The Ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the provincial People’s Committees shall:

- Develop action plans according to the fields assigned to manage to supervise the implementation of the Resolution in order to immediately make the change in the development of tourism.

- Submit the action plans to the State Steering Committee on Tourism for inspecting.

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c) Biannually or annually, the State Steering Committee on Tourism shall assign members of the Steering Committee to inspect the implementation of the Resolution and the mechanisms, policies of the law on preferential tourism development; report the results and recommend commendation to the collectives and individuals obtaining excellent achievement.

ON BEHALF OF PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Tan Dung