Today, the Swiss Tourism for Sustainable Development (ST4SD) project held its 2025 Annual Review Meeting, attended by representatives from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and various tourism management agencies, associations, and training institutions nationwide. The meeting served as a platform for stakeholders to review and assess the activities in 2025 while discussing strategic solutions for 2026.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of VNAT, emphasized that 2025 was a pivotal year during which the project focused on priorities to maximize efficiency and address existing limitations. 2026 will be the “vital year” of the implementation roadmap, requiring the project to achieve specific output indicators to deliver tangible achievements to the tourism industry. A key focus will be supporting development in disadvantaged rural and mountainous areas, contributing to narrowing the development gap through sustainable tourism.
Representing the Swiss donor, Ms. Sibylle Bachmann, Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, highly commended the project’s strong transition from preparation to full-scale implementation. She affirmed that the project has achieved clear results in policy dialogue, human resource development, and pilot implementations at the three destinations. “Switzerland is proud to be a long-term partner of Vietnam in international cooperation and sustainable tourism development. Through ST4SD, we aim not only to support successful initiatives but also to help institutionalize sustainable practices that endure beyond the project’s lifetime,” Ms. Bachmann shared.
Within the framework of the conference, delegates reviewed the report presented by Chief Technical Advisor Olivier Messmer and contributed practical feedback to refine the implementation, monitoring, and financial mechanisms for 2026. Representatives from the Departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of the three project provinces (Tuyên Quang, Đà Nẵng, and Đồng Tháp), national department and agencies, Van Lang University, and Saigon Tourism College all highly valued the existing partnership. The stakeholders also proposed key areas where they seek project support in the coming time.
The consensus and determination shown by all parties are expected to enable ST4SD to operate more effectively and closely to the ground, creating a solid foundation for the future success of sustainable tourism in Viet Nam.
