DECISION

APPROVING THE MASTER PLAN ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST REGION THROUGH 2020, WITH A VISION TOWARD 2030

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the June 14, 2005 Law on Tourism;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 92/2006/ND-CP of September 7, 2006, on formulation, approval and management of socio-economic development master plans, and the Government’s Decree No. 04/2008/ND-CP of January 11, 2008, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 92/2006ÍND-CP of September 7, 2006;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 92/20077ND-CP of June 1, 2007, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tourism, and the Government’s Decree No. 180/2013/ND-CP of November 14, 2013, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 92/2007/ND-CP of June 1, 2007;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister s Decision No. 201/QD-TTgofJanuary 22,2013, approving the master plan on development of Vietnam’s tourism through 2020, with a vision toward 2030;

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DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the master plan on tourism development in the southeast region through 2020, with a vision toward 2030 (below referred to as masterplan), with the following principal contents:

1. Geographical position, scale, boundaries

The southeast region (below referred to as the region) embraces Ho Chi Minh City and five provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh, with an area of 23,597.9 km2. Its geographical position is as follows:

- Bordering the Kingdom of Cambodia to the north and northwest.

- Bordering the provinces south of the southern central coast and the East Sea to the east and northeast.

- Bordering the Mekong River delta provinces to the west and southwest.

2. Development viewpoints

The region’s tourism will be developed according to general viewpoints of the strategy and master plan on development of Vietnam’s tourism through 2020, with a vision toward 2030, and the following specific development viewpoints:

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b/ To develop the region’s tourism toward intensifying linkage and bringing into full play the tourist potential and advantages of localities and the region;

c/ To concurrently develop various tourist products such as convention, marine, cultural and ecological tourism, with convention tourism as a key tourist product;

d/ To make investment with focuses and priorities in and mobilize all resources for sustainable development of tourism in harmony with socio-economic development, social security, national defense and security, environmental protection, and climate change response objectives.

3. Development objectives

a/ General objective

To develop tourism in order to turn the region into a leading dynamic region for national tourism development with diversified and typical tourist products competitive with those of regional countries.

b/ Specific objectives

- Sectoral development targets

+ Tourists: By 2020, to receive over 30 million tourist arrivals, including around 6 million international tourist arrivals. By 2030, these figures will be 50 million and 12 million, respectively.

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- Number of tourist accommodation establishments: By 2020, there will be around 90,000 hotel rooms, with about 25% of which reaching the standards of 3 to 5 stars. By 2030, these figures will be over 145,000 and 30%, respectively.

- Employment targets: By 2020, to employ around 400,000 people, including 30,000 working directly in tourism. By 2030, these figures will be over 1 million and over 350,000, respectively.

4. Major development orientations

a/ Simultaneous development of the domestic tourist market and international tourist market

- The international tourist market:

+ To focus on such major markets as Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

+ To maintain the high-grade traditional markets such as Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Northern America and Australia.

+ To seek new markets such as India, Turkey and Middle East countries.

- The domestic tourist market:

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+ To encourage the development and expansion of the specialized tourism market.

b/ Development of tourist products

- To prioritize the development of convention tourism and marine leisure tourism.

- To develop auxiliary tourist products such as tours to historical and cultural relics; eco-tourism; tourism of exploration and scientific research in national parks and conservation zones; festival and spiritual tourism; and cruise tourism.

c/ Organization of tourism development space

- Tourism development space

+ The region’s tourist center will be Ho Chi Minh City where typical tourist products will be exploited, including convention tourism; marine eco-tourism; recreation, entertainment and sports; weekend rests and cruise tourism.

+ Sea-island tourism will be developed in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, attaching importance to Vung Tau and Xuyen Moc tourist urban areas and Con Dao national tourist zone with the exploitation of typical tourist products, such as leisure and sea-bathing; healthcare; tours to historical and cultural relics and scenic places; convention tourism, and cruise tourism.

+ Urban-ecological tourism will be developed in Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces, focusing on typical tourist products, such as lake and orchard eco-tourism; tours to historical- cultural relics and craft villages; festival and spiritual tourism.

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- Tourist zones, tourist sites and tourist urban centers:

+ To focus investment in developing four national tourist zones, including Can Gio (Ho Chi Minh City), Long Hai-Phuoc Hai (Ba Ria-Vung Tau), Ba Den mountain (Tay Ninh), and Con Dao (Ba Ria-Vung Tau); and five national tourist sites, including Cu Chi (Ho Chi Minh City); Cat Tien national park (Dong Nai); Tri An reservoir-Ma Da (Dong Nai); the Central Office for South Vietnam (Tay Ninh); and Ta Thiet (Binh Phuoc).

+ To step by step form Vung Tau tourist urban center (Ba Ria-Vung Tau).

- Intra-region tourist routes:

+ Major tourist routes embracing major national highways linking Ho Chi Minh City (the region’s tourist center) with localities in the region.

+ Auxiliary tourist routes linking the region’s tourist center, tourist centers of localities and tourist urban centers with adjacent tourist sites in the region, including routes from central urban areas to adjacent tourist sites of localities in the region; a tourist route along belt road 5 of Ho Chi Minh City; My Phuoc-Tan Van route, and belt road 4 of Ho Chi Minh City.

Based on the system of intra-region routes, to open and operate specialized tourist routes, such as weekend tours to Vung Tau sea for leisure; marine eco-tourism and tours to the Con Dao historical relic; tours to orchards and craft villages and eco-tours in Can Gio wetland; river tours along Sai Gon, Vam Co Dong, Dong Nai and Thi Vai rivers, and eco-tours to Dong Nai, Tri An and Dau Tieng reservoirs.

- To develop inter-regional tourist routes by land, railway, waterway and air to provinces in the Central Highlands, Mekong River delta and southern central coast and northern provinces.

- To develop national tourist routes by airway, land and waterway directly linking with international border gates in the region, such as:

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+ Tran-Asia railway route (Di An-Loc Ninh-Cambodia);

+ National highways linking with international land border gates such as national highways 22 and 22B linking with Moc Bai and Xa Mat international land border gates (Tay Ninh); and national highways 13 and 14 linking with Hoa Lu international land border gate (Binh Phuoc);

+ Waterway tours via the seaports in Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau city (Ba Ria- Vung Tau).

d/ Investment in tourism development

- State budget funds (including official development assistance - ODA), foreign direct investment (FDI) capital, contributions of domestic organizations, enterprises and economic sectors, and capital from other lawful sources. State budget funds shall be allocated based on the annual budget-balancing capacity and schedule in each period.

- Investment programs and projects: To prioritize investment in developing the four national tourist zones and five national tourist sites. To invest in four tourism development programs on human resources training and development; promotion, advertising and branding of the region’s tourism; conservation, restoration and development of natural resources; and development of key tourist infrastructure facilities.

5. Solutions for implementation of the master plan

a/ Investment in tourism development

- Investment in tourism

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+ To improve the investment environment for raising the region’s competitiveness in tourism. To review, create and modify investment attraction mechanisms and policies to suit the region’s characteristics and create open and appropriate mechanisms for localities; to adopt priority policies for difficulty-hit localities that are not yet able to develop tourism.

- Raising capital for tourism

+ To mobilize financial resources from people and domestic and foreign organizations in order to have sufficient investment capital for tourism.

+ To increase and diversify forms of domestic and foreign investment such as BOT, BTO, BT and PPP

+ To step up the promotion and attraction, and adopt incentive mechanisms and policies for attraction, of FDI in tourism; to attract investment from the overseas Vietnamese community.

+ To intensify socialization of investment in the protection and embellishment of relics and scenic places; conservation and restoration of festivals, folk cultural activities and craft villages for tourism development.

+ To diversify sources of investment capital through socialization of tourist types and products; to facilitate the raising of capital for tourism.

b/ Development of human resources

- To raise the quality of lecturers of tourism training institutions; to attach importance to renewing training contents, curricula and methods; to enhance on-the-spot training to meet each locality’s human resources development requirements and international integration requirements.

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- To improve the quality of state tourism managers and managers of tourism businesses and tourist zones in localities in the region. To improve tourism promotion and advertising capacity for staffs of local tourism promotion centers in the region.

c/ Linkage for tourism development

- To increase the exchange of tourism development experiences among localities in the region. To ensure close coordination among localities in the exploitation of natural resources, creation of tourist products and development of tourist programs, and ensure uniform contents and forms of tourism promotion and advertising.

- To intensify exchange, coordination and assistance in the provision of services among tourism businesses in the region, especially between travel companies and tourist accommodation and transportation businesses in the reception of and catering for tourists.

- To expand and increase intra- and inter-region linkage and linkage among localities in the region; to promote cooperation and linkage between the tourism industry and relevant industries and sectors, especially public security and national defense units, in order to ensure safety for tourists, contributing to maintaining social order and safety and national security.

- To enhance international cooperation in tourism development for defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

d/ Tourism planning and management of regional tourism planning

- Synchronous implementation of masterplans: Based on this masterplan, the provinces and cities in the region shall review and adjust their existing tourism development master plans and plans or draw up new ones as appropriate; and formulate a master plan on development of national tourist zones and tourist cities; and make specific plans for functional tourist zones and investment projects for each locality in the region.

- Enhanced management of planning

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+ To plant boundary landmarks for identified or invested projects to protect land areas and resources for tourism.

+ To supervise tourist-economic norms and criteria for protection of natural resources and environment.

+ To perform integrated management of investment projects of other sectors in the region which have been planned for tourism development.

+ To build a contingent of professional staffs specialized in the management of tourism planning, natural resources and the environment under provincial-level Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

dd/ Tourism promotion and advertising

- To strengthen tourism promotion and advertising agencies.

- To work out programs and roadmaps for diversified tourism promotion activities in each locality in the region; to step up tourism promotion and advertising in the potential markets for boosting the region’s tourism.

- To study and create a regional mechanism for tourism promotion and advertising. To step up public information on the socialization policy to mobilize every resource for tourism promotion and advertising.

- To bring into play the role of overseas Vietnamese diplomatic representative missions in supporting the promotion and advertising of the region’s tourism.

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- To build and complete a database and statistics on the region’s tourism.

- To step up scientific research and technology transfer in tourism for raising the quality of tourist products, attaching importance to the application of science and technology to the management and exploitation of natural resources and creation of tourist products, tourist statistics, and assessment of environmental and climate change impacts on tourist activities.

- To take the initiative in formulating and proposing projects to be financed through international cooperation and by international organizations.

g/ Development of tourist markets and products

- To formulate strategies on tourist markets to ensure stable and sustainable tourism development.

- To encourage the setting up of strong and capable travel companies to attract tourists, attaching importance to international tours.

- To prioritize the construction and formation of national tourist zones and sites with spillover effects for tourism development across the region; to invest in and develop high- quality recreation and entertainment service zones to increase tourists’ spending and prolonging their lengths of stay.

- To raise the quality of tourist products linked with the sea, islands, rivers and lakes and humane tourist resources for developing typical tourist products of the region and diversifying types of tourism; to focus on building the “convention tourism” brand as a key tourist product and the brand of the region.

h/ Protection of natural resources and the tourist environment and response to climate change

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- To apply technical advances to controlling issues related to the environment, natural resources management and development.

- To encourage environment-friendly tourist activities; to encourage and support local communities to invest in developing tourism and sharing benefits and responsibilities in the utilization of natural resources for tourism development.

- To work out effective technical solutions for protecting natural resources and the tourist environment, and effective measures for disaster prevention and control.

- To review and adjust master plans in conformity with climate change and sea level rise scenarios.

Article 2. Organization of implementation

1. The State Steering Committee on Tourism

The State Steering Committee on Tourism shall direct activities of ministries, central sectors and localities in the region in settling inter-sectoral and inter-provincial issues during the implementation of this master plan.

2. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

a/ To publicize, and organize the implementation of, this master plan.

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c/ To coordinate with other ministries, sectors and People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally run cities in the region in performing relevant tasks in all tourist activities; to review and improve mechanisms and policies to encourage and call for investment in building physical foundations and training human resources for tourism in the region, based on the list of prioritized investment projects attached to this Decision.

Based on the practical implementation of this master plan, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally run cities in the region shall reach agreement on the renaming of, or addition or reduction of, prioritized investment projects.

d/ To formulate, and organize the implementation of, 5-year plans of action for tourism development in conformity with the orientations of this master plan.

dd/ To formulate, and organize the implementation of, specialized culture and sports policies, master plans, programs, schemes and projects in conformity with the orientations of this master plan.

e/ To guide localities in the region to draw up master plans on tourism development in their localities and master plans on local tourist zones and tourist sites.

g/ To annually review, and propose policies and solutions for adjustment of, this master plan to suit reality, and report them to the Prime Minister.

3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall, based on their functions, tasks, and powers, assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in, implementing this masterplan, specifically as follows:

- Submitting to the Government or the Prime Minister .plans on integration of the implementation of national target programs and action programs of their sectors into the implementation of this master plan;

- Assuming the prime responsibility for drawing up action programs and plans of their sectors to perform their assigned tasks in this master plan;

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4. The People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally run cities in the region shall coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and related ministries and sectors in performing the following tasks:

- To take the initiative in implementing and expanding linkage among their localities in tourism promotion and advertising to attract tourists and call for investment in tourism.

- To encourage businesses in the region to participate in developing typical tourist products of the region; to create favorable conditions for businesses to cooperate with their localities in tourism development.

- Based on this master plan, to formulate a master plan on tourism development and detailed plans and investment projects in line with their master plans on socio-economic development.

- To direct and manage the protection of tourist resources and environment, especially areas planned for development into national tourist zones or sites.

- To attach importance to traffic order and safety for ensuring safety for tourists and boosting tourism in the region and their localities.

- To raise the awareness of local communities about preserving and promoting the values of tourist resources toward sustainable development.

- To socialize tourism development activities in order to bring into play the strengths of different economic sectors for tourism development.

- Based on this master plan, to establish a channel for regular information exchange among management agencies at all levels in the region in order to work out appropriate plans for directing and guiding tourism businesses and investors to strictly comply with the region’s development orientations.

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5. Tourism businesses, tourism associations and other mass organizations and sociopolitical organizations

- Tourism associations and other social organizations shall, within the ambit of their functions, grasp the objectives, viewpoints and orientations in this master plan for concretizing them into their own programs of action.

- Mass organizations and socio-political organizations shall coordinate with the local tourism industry and administrations in the region in advertising tourism in the region; mobilize, and conduct public information to raise the awareness of local communities about tourism, tourism master plans and the sense of protecting natural resources and the tourist environment.

- Local communities shall actively participate in tourist activities, such as provision of community tourist services, conservation and sustainable exploitation of natural resources and protection of the tourist environment in accordance with tourism development master plans.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies, chairpersons of the People’s Committees of Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh provinces shall implement this Decision.

FOR THE PRIME MINISTER
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER




Vu Duc Dam

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APPENDIX

LIST OF PRIORITIZED INVESTMENT PROJECTS
(To the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2351/QD-TTg of December 24, 2014)

No.

Name of project

Implementation phase

I

Investment in developing national tourist zones

1

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To 2020

2021-2030

2

Long Hai-Phuoc Hai national tourist zone (Ba Ria-Vung Tau)

To 2020

3

Con Dao national tourist zone (Ba Ria-Vung Tau)

To 2020

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4

Ba Den mountain national tourist zone (Tay Ninh)

To 2020

II

Investment in developing national tourist sites

1

Cu Chi national tourist site (Ho Chi Minh City)

To 2020

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2

National tourist site in the Central Office for South Vietnam (Tay Ninh)

To 2020

3

Ta Thiet national tourist site (Binh Phuoc)

To 2020

4

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To 2020

2021-2030

5

Tri An reservoir-Ma Da national tourist site (Dong Nai)

To 2020

2021-2030

III

Regional tourism development programs

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1

Promotion, advertising and branding

To 2020

2021-2030

2

Development of human resources

To 2020

2021-2030

3

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To 2020

2021-2030

4

Development of key infrastructure

To 2020

2021-2030

Note: The sizes and land areas of the above tourist zones and sites and total investment amounts of the above projects will be calculated, selected and specified in the stages of formulation and submission of investment projects, depending on the capacity of balancing and raising investment capital in each period.-

Quyết định 2351/QĐ-TTg năm 2014 phê duyệt "Quy hoạch tổng thể phát triển du lịch vùng Đông Nam Bộ đến năm 2020, tầm nhìn đến năm 2030" do Thủ tướng Chính phủ ban hành