Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – Climate change and increasingly fierce global competition have created an urgent need for Vietnam's tourism industry to restructure its development model in a sustainable, resilient, and innovative manner. Against this backdrop, green transformation and digital transformation have been established as the two strategic pillars driving tourism development.
Digital transformation can be understood as integrating and applying digital technologies to improve management and operational efficiency; while green transformation refers to achieving sustainable development goals through environmental and social responsibility actions.
The "Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030" explicitly states, "Promoting inclusive and sustainable tourism development based on green growth," while emphasizing "developing the tourism industry in a professional, high-quality, and efficient direction, and actively applying the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution." The Prime Minister's Notification No. 34/CĐ-TTg on promoting tourism development and ensuring double-digit economic growth also specifically emphasizes accelerating the digital and green transformation of the tourism industry.
At the 12th General Conference of the Global Cities Tourism Development Organization (TPO2025) and High-Level Tourism Forum held recently during the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Exhibition, participants unanimously agreed on the theme "Shaping the Future of Tourism: Towards Digital and Green Transformation." Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh pointed out that in an era where digitalization and sustainable development go hand in hand, it is crucial to recognize that digital transformation and green transformation are not two parallel paths, but rather complementary, forming the "golden key" and two "strategic pillars" for building a sustainable, modern, humanistic, and culturally rich tourism industry.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung also stated that digitalization and greening have become inevitable strategic actions for the development of the tourism industry in countries including Vietnam. In recent years, many localities, scenic areas, and tourism enterprises in Vietnam have proactively applied digital and green technologies to their operations and management, promoting smart tourism and creating many new and environmentally friendly tourism products and destinations. For example, projects to reduce plastic waste in tourism activities and support enterprises in using digital technologies for management and promotion have been implemented nationwide. An increasing number of green tourism routes, smart hotels, and enterprises and destinations with sustainability certifications are emerging. However, experts point out that to achieve longer-term breakthroughs in digital and green transformation, Vietnam's tourism industry still needs to overcome numerous challenges and build comprehensive, systematic solutions. Phung Quang Thang, Chairman of the Vietnam Green Tourism Association, believes that both green and digital transformation require initial investment in technology and infrastructure; this trend is irreversible and therefore requires the joint participation of the government, businesses, and communities. The government should play a guiding role, while businesses should be pioneers and strive for positive responses from local communities.
In addition to tax and financial incentives, more businesses should be encouraged to participate, thereby creating strong market demand for green transformation, stimulating the production of green materials, and reducing investment costs. Phung Quang Thang also emphasized that green transformation is not just about protecting the environment but should also be combined with the inheritance and development of cultural values to truly benefit the community. Pham Van Thuy, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, stated that digitalization and greening are irreversible trends. Currently, Vietnam is building a unified national tourism digital platform to enable businesses to better utilize data resources for promotional activities and to allow tourists to easily access Vietnamese tourism information.
Regarding green transformation, Pham Van Thu pointed out that Vietnam possesses abundant green tourism resources and should develop more green tourism products based on market demand to attract tourists.
Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh, speaking at a high-level tourism forum on "Shaping the Future of Tourism: Towards Digital and Green Transformation," emphasized the need to accelerate the transformation of growth models: driven by digital transformation to improve service quality, tourist experience, and management efficiency; and based on green transformation to build a tourism industry that is harmonious with nature and responsible to communities and the environment. The Deputy Prime Minister also outlined several key directions, including improving institutional mechanisms and updating tourism development thinking, shifting from a "growth-centric" to a "sustainable development-centric" approach; strengthening action and international cooperation to advance digitalization and greening processes; researching and developing a system of principles for "digital tourism" and "green tourism," encouraging countries and businesses to adopt them; promoting regional and industry collaboration to create unique, in-depth, and competitive tourism products; increasing investment in human resources; and researching and supplementing relevant policy mechanisms to encourage businesses to invest in and develop efficient tourism management models, prioritizing the development of digital and green tourism. (End)
