Hanoi reorients culture and sports toward digital innovation
Hanoi needs proactive planning as its culture sector targets a 5% share of GRDP by 2026, laying the groundwork for its 2030 growth ambitions.
THE HANOI TIMES — Hanoi’s culture sector is aiming to contribute about 5% to the city’s GRDP by 2026, as authorities step up efforts to position culture as a new engine of economic expansion.
Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports holds a conference on February 4. Photo courtesy of the department
The target was released at a February 4 conference when the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports set out its 2026 agenda under the theme “Discipline, Professionalism - Breakthrough, Creativity - Efficiency, Sustainability,” with innovation, creativity and digitalization identified as core pillars.
The strategy places cultural industries at the center of growth, supported by institutional reform and expanded use of digital technology.
To reach the 2026 target, the sector has mapped out specific tasks across key fields. In the arts, Hanoi plans to roll out professional activities in a more systematic manner, with large-scale, high-quality programs designed to raise artistic standards while expanding public access and international exposure.
Accordingly, the top priority is refining policies within the department’s authority to institutionalize cultural and sports development goals aligned with the 14th National Party Congress Document, the amended Capital City Law, Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW and major city resolutions.
Efforts will focus on ensuring alignment with broader strategies while accelerating sector-wide data digitalization, including the gradual formation of a “Capital City Cultural Database System” to support state management and public access.
The department will also study decentralization and delegation of authority, alongside stronger inspection, supervision and accountability at the local level.
An art performance celebrating the achievements of Hanoi’s culture and sports sector.
Heritage preservation and promotion remain a central focus. Hanoi plans to concentrate resources on restoring and conserving key historical sites, world heritage locations and special national monuments, while completing scientific documentation for the ranking of representative heritage assets.
Heritage promotion will be linked to sustainable tourism and traditional education through experiential activities, exhibitions, smart interpretation tools and the development of distinctive cultural products, generating resources for reinvestment in conservation.
The city has identified the cultural industry as a new growth engine. The sector is working to build and implement a statistical indicator framework to measure the industry’s contribution to GRDP, support policymaking and attract investment.
Across arts, libraries, reading culture, advertising, family affairs and grassroots culture, the department will focus on improving transparent management mechanisms, investing in facilities and human resources, expanding access to cultural spaces, fostering a healthy cultural environment and narrowing regional disparities in cultural participation.
The initiatives are intended to help shape the image of Hanoi residents as elegant and civilized.
Pham Tuan Long, Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, delivers a speech at the conference.
A central pillar of the strategy is the completion of the project on “Statistical Indicators on Cultural Industries in Hanoi” to measure and evaluate the contribution of cultural industries to GRDP, support policy planning, attract investment and strengthen industry management.
Alongside this, Hanoi plans to form and operate cultural industry centers and creative spaces more effectively, laying the groundwork for sustained growth beyond 2026.
To implement the strategy, Pham Tuan Long, Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, called on the entire sector to act with greater initiative and accountability.
He urged departments, units and individual officials to coordinate proactively, remove bottlenecks and deliver clear results from the start of the year.
The biennial Creative Design Festival is regarded as one of Hanoi’s key successes in fostering creativity among younger generations. Photo: Huy Pham/ The Hanoi Times
The renewed push builds on a year of strong results in 2025. Hanoi continued to strengthen state management of monument restoration and accelerated the preparation of dossiers for monument ranking.
In intangible cultural heritage, the city completed eight scientific dossiers for inscription on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, including the Nanh Pagoda Festival, La Phu Village Festival, La Vong Fish Cake Festival and Bat Trang culinary traditions.
Cooperation also advanced on a dossier seeking UNESCO recognition of pho (Vietnamese traditional dish of noodle soup with beef) as world intangible cultural heritage.
Major historical and cultural sites managed by the department such as Ngoc Son Temple, the Temple of Literature, Hoa Lo Prison and the city’s museum system remained strong tourism draws.
In 2025, these sites were expected to welcome more than 3.7 million visitors.
Festival management also showed improvement. Hanoi hosts 1,661 traditional festivals, with 1,206 organized at varying scales.
Local authorities emphasized orderly organization and the preservation of cultural identity, while promoting folk cultural activities to enhance the capital’s profile among domestic and international visitors.
Professional arts programs were highlighted by events such as the Thang Long - Hanoi Festival 2025 and a series of activities marking the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2.
In sports, Hanoi maintained its position as the country’s leading hub. The city’s high-performance teams set a target of 3,556 medals at domestic and international competitions in 2025, exceeding the annual plan by 131%. At the 33rd SEA Games, athletes from Hanoi contributed 29 gold medals to Vietnam’s overall tally.
Officials said the combination of clear growth targets, sector-specific tasks and tighter execution is intended to mobilize resources and position culture as a key pillar of Hanoi’s economic and social development in the years ahead.
The city targets the cultural sector’s 9% contribution to its GRDP by 2030.
