Institute for Tourism Development Research reviewing the works of 2016

   On January 13th 2017, Institute for Tourism Development Research (ITDR) organized a meeting to review the works of 2016 and discuss the tasks of 2017. Attending the meeting was Deputy Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Dr.Ha Van Sieu; representative of Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST); representatives of departments and units under VNAT, together with the officials, researchers and employees of ITDR.

   On behalf of ITDR’s leadership board, Dr.Truong Sy Vinh, Deputy Director, gave an overview presentation. In 2016, ITDR completed two master plans for tourism development, “Master plan on tourism development of Son Tra national tourism area, Da Nang City until 2025, orientation to 2030” and “Master plan on tourism development of Mekong River delta region until 2030”, which were both approved by the Prime Minister. In addition, ITDR consulted many local provinces to develop tourism development plan and strategies (Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Hung Yen …). Also in 2016, ITDR was assigned by MCST to carry out 02 scientific research projects at the ministerial level and 04 grassroots research projects and environment tasks; VNAT allotted 04 tasks under the National Action Plan for Tourism for ITDR in 2016. Most tasks were completed on schedule, examined and approved. A number of projects that had been backlogged for many years were partially solved. Despite many difficulties and challenges, with the supports and guidance of the MCST and VNAT, and the coordination between different departments, ITDR has strengthened the solidarity, unanimity and initiative to follow the planned schedules and fulfill the tasks assigned.
   In 2017, ITDR will focus on implementing the project to consolidate its organization and operation, as well as take the lead and take part in a number of key tasks, such as: To complete and submit to the Prime Minister for approval the planning on national tourist resorts, and coordinate with related agencies for the publicization and popularization of already approved plannings by the Prime Minister; To implement scientific research projects, environmental tasks and tasks under the National program for tourism; To carry out tourism development consultancy projects for localities; To formulate international cooperation plans, strengthen cooperation with domestic and foreign organizations, research institutes and universities, assuming the prime responsibility for and participate in the implementation of tasks with ASEAN, GMS and APEC; To formulate a scheme on postgraduate training, short-term and long-term training plans, determine the direction of long-term scientific research of the Institute; To deploy regular tasks according to assigned functions; To raise the quality and efficiency of the work, strictly observe the working regulations and practice to reduce wastefulness in order to raise the living standard for officials, employees and researchers of ITDR.

   Speaking at the conference, Deputy Director of VNAT, Dr. Ha Van Sieu, highly appreciated the achievements of ITDR in the past year despite the difficulties. Dr. Sieu emphasized that ITDR should increasingly promote its research institute branding. It was necessary for the newly established Tourism Consultancy and Training Center to develop a separate and autonomous mechanism of operation. ITDR also needed to promote the cooperation with external partners, research organizations and networks of tourism specialists. Each department in ITDR always had to have new plans to meet market demand and brought more efforts to improve research quality and highly applicable in practice. The Deputy Director would like the researchers and officials of ITDR to jointly work with the departments and units of VNAT in 2017 to develop the institute and contribute to the science of tourism in general

Hong Nhung