According to the Government's Report on the situation and results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for 2023, last year we restructured the economy in conjunction with renewing the growth model, enhancing endogenous capacity, and continuing to promote competitiveness.

Continue to restructure a number of important service sectors and fields such as: trade, logistics services, transportation, aviation, etc. Focus on investing in "renewing" the tourism industry; innovating promotion and communication activities; developing tourism products and services with potential and competitive advantages; ensuring conditions for facilities and service quality. Implement digital transformation and enhance the application of technology in the tourism industry. The tourism and service sector has developed quite vigorously, with an estimated annual added value of 6.82% and attracting 12.6 million international visitors, 3.4 times higher than in 2022.

The effective application of favorable visa policies and tourism stimulus programs have helped tourism recover more strongly. In the first four months of the year, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increased by 8.5% over the same period last year; international visitors reached more than 6.2 million, up 68.3% over the same period last year and up 3.9% over the same period in 2019 (the year before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Need for inter-sectoral coordination; increase investment in tourism

Excited about the growth of industries and sectors in recent times, Mr. Phan Viet Luong - Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education said that we are trying to make tourism a spearhead economic sector and in fact we have achieved many growth results, recovering quickly compared to the same period last year as well as compared to the same period of the years before the epidemic in 2019.

However, Mr. Phan Viet Luong said that according to the general assessment of society and voters, despite such positive growth, the development of this industry is still not commensurate with its current potential and advantages and is still low compared to other countries in the region. Therefore, Vietnam's competitiveness is not high, the coordination between agencies to direct, operate and support the tourism industry has not met the requirements of being a key comprehensive economic sector, and many inter-sectoral issues have not been resolved.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education said that coordination in the field of transportation, especially air transportation, and how to support tourism are all issues that voters are concerned about. Issues related to tourism culture and tourism civilization are also in an alarming state, with overcharging and snatching occurring in many places. These evils and situations have lasted for years and have not been resolved. Therefore, it is recommended that the Government pay special attention and promptly resolve this issue.

Also concerned about this issue, delegate Tran Hoang Ngan - National Assembly Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City assessed that agriculture and tourism are Vietnam's strengths when compared to other countries. The good news is that according to the Government's report on the number of international visitors, it shows that international tourists returning to Vietnam are higher than before.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan emphasized that this is an industry that spreads to many areas, so we need to invest more. In addition to tourism development resources from the private sector, public investment budget for the tourism sector also needs to be focused on, especially investment in the restoration of historical and cultural relics, protection of scenic spots, investment in tourism infrastructure, entertainment areas, or even investment in international cruise lines.

In addition, we also need to pay attention to the security and customs areas at the gateways and airports. Currently, international tourists have to wait a long time for procedures that we could have done faster, or could have designed specifically for Vietnamese people living abroad. Current procedures at the airports are still very slow, causing discomfort for tourists.

At the same time, it is necessary to invest in the field of tourism security and tourist police to support international tourists. Only then will Vietnam's tourism industry develop commensurate with its potential.

Research on expanding the list of countries exempted from visas to Vietnam

Delegate Duong Minh Anh - Hanoi National Assembly Delegation said that in 2024, we need to have many solutions to stimulate domestic tourists, such as reducing domestic airfares and reducing gasoline and oil prices during holidays, Tet and peak seasons; increasing many tourism products to stimulate domestic tourism and consumption.

However, to increase the number of international tourists to Vietnam, we also need to have more open policies, possibly through diplomatic, bilateral and multilateral channels.

The delegate also said that we need to research to expand the list of countries exempted from visas to Vietnam; exploit new and attractive tourist destinations and innovate tourism products.

In addition, regarding the exploitation of tourist attractions, including spiritual tourism, many localities now assign the exploitation of tourist attractions to the private sector, and businesses invest in building altars at these tourist attractions.

However, due to carelessness and lack of understanding, tourist attractions become ugly and offensive, losing the image and dignity of religion; management is also poor and lacks control by local authorities. According to the delegate, foreigners coming to Vietnam want to find places that are wild and have not been affected much by humans.

This way of investing and exploiting tourist destinations not only fails to attract tourists, but also reduces the number of tourists coming to those tourist destinations, so it is necessary to change to a more suitable way of doing things.

Discussing the issue of tourism economy, delegate Ha Thi Nga - National Assembly Delegation of Dong Thap province pointed out the fact that during the recent April 30 and May 1 holidays, there was a situation of high airfares, leading to a decrease in the rate of domestic tourists in areas dependent on air routes.

Phu Quoc is a typical example, as this was a place that attracted many domestic tourists before, but during this holiday, the number of domestic tourists has decreased. Many people have had to change their plans, due to the high price of air tickets, many people even switched from participating in domestic tourism to traveling abroad, when foreign tourism packages such as Thailand or some countries in the region are cheaper than domestic ones. According to the delegate, this is a matter of great concern, the Government needs to have timely instructions to maintain the development level of the tourism industry in the near future.

In addition, delegates expressed concerns about the situation of some domestic tourist destinations, especially tourist destinations with special cultural values ​​of ethnic communities, which are gradually losing their traditional identity. There are currently cultural hybrids, such as the use of ethnic costumes. What is even more worrying is that some community tourism destinations do not pay attention to preserving traditional Vietnamese houses or cultural features, but instead decorate the doors of the houses like those of some other countries.

Therefore, the delegate believes that there needs to be more attention from the Government, ministries and specialized sectors to have the right orientation for the tourism industry so as not to lose its identity, value and real attraction to domestic and foreign tourists. This is also a national pride that we must promote the tradition through tourism service activities.../.