Foreign tourists enjoy a painting service in Nguyen Van Binh book street in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)

The official dispatch builds on the Politburo’s directive to make tourism a spearhead economic sector, with the PM’s directions already delivering notable success. Tourism has become a bright spot in Vietnam’s post-COVID-19 recovery, it said.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has been tasked with leading this effort. Priorities include launching the tourism stimulus programme for this year and beyond, diversifying and improving tourism products and services, accelerating digital transformation and green transition in tourism development, collaborating with the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to enhance accessibility and convenience for tourists.

It was also asked to partner with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to leverage Vietnam’s diplomatic missions for tourism promotion, urge tourism companies to establish overseas offices and tap the overseas Vietnamese community to expand markets.

Other specific tasks were also assigned to relevant ministries, heads of the ministry-level and government agencies, the National Tourism Steering Committee, and chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities.

Vietnam welcomed 17.6 million foreign visitors last year, a 39% annual surge, generating 840 trillion VND (33.6 billion USD) in revenue, up 24%. The first quarter of 2025 set a record with over 6 million foreign tourist arrivals, a 29.6% year-on-year rise.

This year, the sector expects to welcome 22-23 million foreign visitors and serve 130 million domestic travellers, with 12-13% revenue growth.