Vietnam Economic Times October 05 2026

Dear readers,

Politburo Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, dated August 22, 2026, on developing Vietnamese tourism into a spearhead economic sector in the new era, identifies “Innovating the thinking of tourism development from a broad approach, relying on quantity and merely exploiting resources, to focusing on a deep, quality, and effective sustainable development model with high added-value associated with highly-creative products and unique experiences; innovating the management thinking of tourism toward managing the ecosystem of an integrated service economy,” while also setting a specific goal that, by 2030, “Vietnamese tourism will be a spearhead economic sector directly contributing 10-12 per cent of GDP, maintaining its position among the leaders in Southeast Asia in terms of scale and growth rate, striving to welcome 45-50 million international visitors, serving 160 million domestic visitors, and focusing on high-spending tourists with long stays, with total tourist revenue reaching $80-90 billion.”

To cement the orientation and goals for developing the tourism sector outlined in Politburo Resolution No. 26, the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) believes high-quality tourism must meet six groups of criteria simultaneously: economic value; length of stay and level of participation by guests; the quality of the experience; the quality of services; positive cultural-social and environmental impacts; and the capacity of destinations. VNAT has also established a set of indicators to measure the above criteria, shifting from “counting guests” to “measuring value” to quantify total revenue per guest, which, in summary, according to Dr. Ha Van Sieu, Deputy Director of VNAT, high-quality tourism is not just for high-paying individuals, but is a tourism model that creates high value per visitor: longer stays, higher spending, better experiences, broader spillover effects, and fewer negative impacts on resources, culture, and the environment.

In orientations toward developing high-quality tourism, hospitality real estate is considered a “spearhead” segment, playing an important role in the growth of the tourism economy. The “Meet the Experts” conference (MTE Hanoi 2026), one of the largest and most well-known hospitality and real estate conferences in the region, held in Hanoi on October 1, aimed to foster connections, create collaborative opportunities, and provide valuable insights to developers, hotel owners, and industry partners, helping them prepare for a new development cycle in real estate and the hospitality market.

As Vietnam Economic Times / VnEconomy was a media sponsor of MTE Hanoi 2026, our Cover Story in this edition focuses on the theme: “Tourism economy from the perspective of hospitality real estate,” with a series of articles analyzing high-quality tourism’s contributions to national economic growth; economic prospects and driving forces shaping the global and regional hotel market; vision to 2035 and emerging business models in the hospitality market; growth drivers of the hospitality real estate market in Vietnam; the “all-inclusive resort” model; multi-experience prospects for Vietnamese tourism; opportunities for the wellness tourism in the longevity era; and the pivotal moment for the Vietnamese hospitality market; among others.

Warmest regards

Dr. CHU VAN LAM
CHAIRMAN OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD