80th anniversary of the Cultural Sector's tradition: Aspiration to create and contribute to the nation's longevity

Over 80 years of construction and development, the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector has accompanied the glorious journey of the nation, making an important contribution to the cause of national construction, defense, innovation and international integration.

Culture - spiritual foundation, endogenous strength of the nation
Throughout history, the cultural sector has grown steadily, fulfilling its noble mission: fostering spiritual strength, nurturing the soul, and awakening the aspirations of the Vietnamese people. Generations of cadres, artists, and intellectuals have strived to preserve and promote traditional cultural values, while creating works and projects of profound ideological and artistic value, contributing to encouraging the entire people in the resistance wars for national liberation and the cause of innovation and integration today.

In recent years, implementing important resolutions of the Party on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people, the Culture sector has focused on shaping the national value system, cultural value system, human standards and Vietnamese family value system in the new era. This is the spiritual pillar for Vietnamese people to be confident, self-reliant, self-reliant and self-reliant in the context of globalization.

The Department of Culture currently manages more than 40,000 historical and cultural relics, including 128 special national relics and 3,688 national relics. Vietnam has 9 world cultural and natural heritages recognized by UNESCO, along with 15 intangible heritages such as Hue Royal Court Music, Ca Tru, Quan Ho, Mother Goddess Worship, Then Practice, etc.

Over the years, the intellectuals, artists, and industry officials have created thousands of valuable literary and artistic works, contributing to encouraging the people in the resistance war and the renovation process. In recent years, the identification and implementation of the national value system, the cultural value system, the Vietnamese human standards, and the family value system have been promoted, becoming the foundation for shaping personality, nurturing the soul, and arousing the desire to rise up in the context of deep international integration.

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Outline on Vietnamese Culture (Photo: Government Electronic Newspaper)

Sports – affirming Vietnam’s stature and aspirations

From the movement “All people exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho”, Vietnamese sports today have made great strides. Many generations of athletes have left their mark in regional and international arenas, bringing Vietnamese sports to the continental level.

Implementing Conclusion No. 70-KL/TW of the Politburo , the Sports sector is implementing the Development Strategy to 2030, vision 2045, aiming to build a generation of healthy citizens, with harmonious physical and mental development. The immediate goal is to prepare key athletes for the ASIAD, Olympics and SEA Games; at the same time, promote the mass sports movement widely, forming a diverse and modern network of clubs and playgrounds.

Currently, 34% of the population participates in regular sports, over 20% of households meet sports standards. In the international arena, Vietnamese sports have achieved many successes: at the 32nd SEA Games (Cambodia), the Vietnamese sports delegation won 136 gold medals, 105 silver medals and 118 bronze medals, leading the whole delegation; for the first time, they entered the top 3 in Asia at the 2018 ASIAD; and especially, Vietnamese athletes made their mark at the 2016 Tokyo Olympics with Hoang Xuan Vinh's gold medal in shooting - a historic milestone.

The industry's goal is to continue developing high-performance sports in parallel with mass sports, preparing forces for the Paris Olympics, ASIAD 2026 and upcoming SEA Games.

Tourism - a spearhead economic sector with rich identity

If culture is the spiritual foundation, then tourism is the “bridge” that spreads Vietnamese culture to the world. Implementing Resolution 08-NQ/TW, the tourism industry has been affirming its position as one of the country’s key economic sectors.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam welcomed more than 18 million international visitors, served 85 million domestic visitors, and generated total revenue of about VND720,000 billion. After the pandemic, the industry has recovered strongly: in 2023, Vietnam welcomed more than 12.6 million international visitors (exceeding the plan), along with 108 million domestic visitors, with total tourism revenue reaching VND678,000 billion.

Vietnam has been honored as “Asia’s Leading Destination” at the World Travel Awards for many consecutive years. Outstanding destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Trang An Complex, Hoi An Ancient Town, etc. continue to be highly appreciated by international tourists.

In recent years, Vietnam has been continuously honored at prestigious international tourism awards, many destinations are highly appreciated by international friends for their natural beauty and cultural depth. The tourism industry is focusing on strong transformation towards digital transformation, green transformation, developing smart tourism, with unique products associated with national cultural identity. The longer-term vision is to build the brand "Vietnam - a destination of peace, friendliness, and difference".

In the new period, the tourism industry focuses on digital transformation, developing green and smart tourism, with unique products associated with culture, community and nature, aiming to make Vietnam one of the countries with the leading tourism industry in the region by 2030.

The 14th Northwest Ethnic Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in Son La in 2019. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

Press and publishing – the voice of the Party, the forum of the people

In the digital age, the press and media continue to play a role in guiding public opinion, protecting the Party's ideological foundation, and at the same time truthfully reflecting social life, creating consensus and trust among the people.

The country currently has more than 800 press agencies, including 127 print newspapers, 670 magazines and 72 radio and television stations; along with thousands of electronic information pages and digital media platforms. The Vietnamese press increasingly affirms its important role in orienting public opinion, protecting the Party's ideological foundation, reflecting social life, and creating consensus among the people.

Along with the press, publishing has undergone many innovations: perfecting institutions, developing e-publishing, organizing book fairs, national book awards, and spreading the reading movement in the community. Books have become a means of nurturing knowledge, fostering a reading culture, and contributing to building a learning society in the new era.

In the publishing sector, over 30,000 books with about 400 million copies are published each year. Vietnam has organized the National Book Festival, the National Book Awards, promoted the development of e-publishing, and spread the reading culture in the community. This is an important step in building a learning society, meeting the requirements of digital transformation and international integration.

Investing more than 122,000 billion for cultural development in the 2025-2035 period. (Photo: Government Electronic Newspaper)

Cultural industry – new driving force for development

An important highlight of the industry in the current period is the development of cultural industries, creating new growth momentum for the country's economy. The application of digital technology, exploitation of intellectual property, copyright protection, etc. are opening up great opportunities for Vietnam to affirm its position in the global creative industry.

Cultural industry is identified as one of the breakthrough directions. Currently, 12 cultural industry sectors have been formed and developed, contributing about 3.5% of GDP each year, in which cinema, advertising, fine arts, fashion, video games, etc. are increasingly expanding their markets.

The program to digitize Vietnam's cultural heritage for the period 2021 - 2030 is being implemented, with the goal of digitizing all tangible and intangible cultural heritage, museums, libraries, and archives by 2030. This is an important step forward, bringing the national cultural treasure closer to the global public, enhancing Vietnam's "soft power".

Solutions for the new journey

To continue to develop strongly in the coming time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposes key solutions:

Raising awareness and responsibility of the whole society about the role of culture; linking cultural development with socio-economic development, building modern Vietnamese people with rich identity.

Perfecting institutions and policies towards synchronization, transparency, and resource mobilization, especially in the digital environment.

Building and improving the quality of staff, attracting talents in the fields of culture, arts, sports, media and publishing.

Investing in infrastructure and promoting digital transformation, forming a synchronous system of cultural - sports - tourism institutions from central to local levels.

Promote the strength of national unity, arouse the desire to contribute of intellectuals, artists, artisans, athletes, tourism businesses and all people.

Continue to promote communication on culture, sports and tourism to successfully carry out key political tasks, build and develop culture, sports and tourism, actively contribute to the whole country in completing socio-economic development goals and tasks in 2024 (Photo: Government e-newspaper)

Aspiration to contribute in the new era

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of its traditional day, the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector proudly looks back on the past journey with countless efforts, creativity and dedication. From the foundation laid by Uncle Ho and our Party, over 8 decades, the sector has created many important achievements, directly contributing to the development of the country.

However, the road ahead is full of opportunities and challenges. In the context of globalization, the fourth industrial revolution, climate change and the shift in world culture, the cultural sector must continue to innovate its thinking, take drastic actions and have a stronger desire to contribute.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that eighty years of construction and development of the Cultural Sector - although not long compared to the thousands of years of historical and cultural traditions of the nation - has marked a remarkable, comprehensive and most successful step forward in the cause of building and defending the country of our people. A new journey is opening up. The new autumn brings with it faith, hope and aspiration to rise up, urging those working in cultural work across the country to continue to create, innovate and contribute continuously. More than ever, we need to promote the spirit of solidarity, confidently renew our thinking and act decisively, and the desire to contribute must be even greater. Only then can we create clean streams of water, fostering the nation's endogenous strength - so that Vietnamese culture will last forever, and develop more and more brilliantly in the new era.

Nguyen Vu

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/80-nam-ngay-truyen-thong-nganh-van-hoa-khat-vong-sang-tao-cong-hien-cho-su-truong-ton-cua-dan-toc.html