Sustainable Tourism Development in Viet Nam in the Context of Green Growth and International Integration

Abstract

This paper analyses sustainable tourism development in Viet Nam in the context of green growth and international integration, using secondary data for 2015-2024. The study combines descriptive statistics, recovery indices relative to the 2019 pre-pandemic baseline, the DPSIR framework, and policy-institutional analysis. The results show that Viet Nam tourism experienced three distinct phases: rapid pre-pandemic expansion in 2015-2019, severe disruption during COVID-19 in 2020-2021, and uneven recovery after reopening in 2022-2024. International arrivals increased from 7.94 million in 2015 to 18.01 million in 2019, fell sharply during the pandemic, and recovered to approximately 17.58 million in 2024. Domestic tourism became the main recovery pillar, reaching 101.3 million trips in 2022 and 110 million trips in 2024, exceeding the pre-pandemic level. Total tourism receipts in 2024 reached about VND 840 trillion, approximately 11.3% higher than in 2019. However, estimated receipts per visitor trip have not fully recovered, indicating a risk of volume-led rather than value-led growth. The paper argues that the transition to sustainable tourism is not only an environmental imperative but also a competitiveness condition, as tourists, investors, and tourism supply chains increasingly emphasise low-carbon standards, destination governance, safety, local experience, and social responsibility. Policy recommendations focus on data institutions, destination governance, green finance, green standards, digital transformation, inter-regional linkage, and a stronger role for local communities.