[Podcast] Developing Vung Tau into a World-Class Tourism City
16 January, 2025
Keywords: Smart tourism, World-class, Research project, Innovation, Co-creation, Vung Tau
Developing Vung Tau into a world-class tourism city is a research project that the Institute of Smart Cities and Management (ISCM), under the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), in cooperation with the People’s Committee of Vung Tau City and related departments, has implemented throughout 2023 and 2024, under the direction of Ba Ria Vung Tau Province. The goal of the project is to build Vung Tau City into a high-quality, world-class tourism city and aim to become a net zero emission locality by 2050.

With the city’s prime location, easy access to the provinces in the Southeast, through the national highway system, ferries, and global access with the future Long Thanh airport, Vung Tau City has a great opportunity to connect and develop high-quality tourism. In addition, Vung Tau has outstanding strengths in the Southern region in terms of nature, landscape, culture, history and cuisine, allowing the city to have a good foundation for developing typical tourism activities.

Figure 1. Workshop on the vision for smart and sustainable tourism development for Vung Tau city with the participation of local authorities, representatives of associations, the private sector, communities, UEH and foreign experts in urban development
The project focuses on analyzing and synthesizing the tourism development situation of Vung Tau city in the local, regional and international context as a basis for setting specific goals and action programs with key projects in each phase. All of these proposals and solutions are aimed at increasing tourists, developing local infrastructure and economy, and building an open local business ecosystem, high-quality experiences and international standards to attract high-quality human resources to come to live, work and develop. The solutions all come from scientific, practical bases and strict legal regulations, which are the characteristics of Vung Tau city, planning, orientations on spatial development and policies of the government.
In order to improve the quality of the research project, ISCM has effectively implemented the co-creation method in development research, by closely coordinating with local authorities, businesses and people in surveying the current situation and building visions and goals. Of these, 100 local people, 50 domestic tourists, 50 international tourists, 40 experts from businesses and local government representatives participated in the survey and provided responses. In addition, ISCM also chaired or co-organized 3 specialzed conferences, an international scientific workshop and professional meetings between parties during the process of building the research project. In addition to the main research authors, ISCM and Vung Tau city, the research project was organized and implemented with the advice of international experts from Belgium, Korea, Australia, Thailand, and India who have a lot of experience in scientific research and practical application of tourism development projects in a locality.

Fig. 2. Dr. Sebastien Goethals, co-founder of Citilinks, suggesting innovative solutions for the tourism development strategy of Vung Tau city
The outcome of the research project is concerned with a long-term development strategy with specific goals for each stage:
- From present to 2030: Vung Tau City – world-class tourist center; From 2030 – 2040: Vung Tau City – Becoming an innovative city;
- From 2040 – 2050: Vung Tau City – Transforming into a net zero emission city.
Accompanying each phase is a list of breakthrough solutions for tourism product development as well as orientations for the city’s tourism space planning. This is the most important component of the project, implemented according to a specific tourism development plan. Projects with various themes (luxury, ecology, resorts, sports, festivals and events, culture, history, innovation, connectivity) are planned to be implemented continuously from now until 2050, divided into three different phases according to the city’s brand and target.
With an innovative, scientific approach, and the participation of all stakeholders, it is hoped that with this project, Vung Tau City will successfully build a brand of a high-quality tourist city through developing smart tourism towards a world-class tourist city, with a vision of a zero-net emission city by 2050. This is also the process of creating positive images and emotions in the minds of local residents and tourists regarding the identities and characteristics according to the desired positioning of Vung Tau City.
Authors: Dr. Trinh Tu Anh; Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Thi Bich Nguyet; Dr. Dinh Cong Khai; Dr. Dong Su Yi, Pham Nguyen Hoai; Do Le Phuc Tam; Sandhya Rao, Hoang Le Nam Hai, Le Quoc Viet; Le Phan Truong An (University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City); Phan Thi Nhu Quynh (Vietnam Aviation Academy);
This article is part of the article series spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the message “Research Contribution For All”. UEH cordially invites readers to read the next UEH Research Insights newsletter.
News and photos: The Authors, UEH Department of Communications and Partnerships

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