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Tourists enthusiastically participating in royal court games during the “Mystical Imperial Palace” program. Photo: Hue Monuments Conservation Centre
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Maintaining growth momentum
Looking back on that challenging journey, what remains is not only success or growth figures, but more profoundly a transformation in position, mindset, and development space. Hue has “crossed the finish line” in the sense of accomplishing a historic objective, but more importantly, it has entered a new race with higher demands and greater pressure, while also opening up larger opportunities.
Amid the instability of both global and domestic, Hue has still maintained a relatively stable growth pace, with average GRDP growth during the 2021-2025 period reaching around 7,5% per year. This is a noteworthy result in the post-pandemic context. The economic structure has continued shifting toward services and industry, with the service sector playing the leading role and accounting for more than half of the economy’s scale.
However, the noteworthy point lies not only in the figures but also in the quality of the transformation. Hue’s growth has not simply been a post-crisis recovery, but has begun to show elements of restructuring. Tourism and services have recovered rapidly; trade, transport, and logistics have developed; digital transformation and the digital economy have begun leaving their mark; and the investment environment has continued to improve. These developments indicate that Hue is gradually moving away from its traditional growth model toward a more modern economic structure.
At a deeper level, the historically significant achievement is that Hue has officially become a centrally governed municipality. This is not merely a change in administrative status, but the result of a comprehensive preparation process in planning, infrastructure, institutions, and development vision. It marks the transition from a provincial city to a national-level central urban area with a new role in the regional and national development structure.
Along with that, Hue’s urban appearance and development space have undergone clear changes. Transport infrastructure, airports, seaports, and new urban areas have been synchronously invested in, expanding development space toward the sea, lagoon areas, and satellite urban zones. This serves as an important physical foundation for Hue to enter a period of higher growth in the future.
In the cultural sector, the pillar that defines Hue’s identity, the city has continued affirming its role as one of the country’s distinctive cultural centers. Not only has Hue preserved its heritage values effectively, but it has also gradually transformed heritage into development resources through models such as the Four Seasons Festival and the projects including “Hue - The Capital of Ao Dai” and “Hue - The Culinary Capital”. This direction aligns with the spirit of Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW dated January 7th, 2026, on the development of Vietnamese culture, in which culture is identified not only as a spiritual foundation but also as an endogenous resource for development.
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| Hue’s urban appearance and development space have undergone significant changes. Photo: Nhu Ngoc |
Unraveling bottlenecks
However, frankly speaking, the achieved results still fall short of the city’s potential. The largest bottleneck remains the industry. Industrial scale is still small, high-tech industries are developing slowly, and major value chains have yet to take shape. This means the economy still depends heavily on services, while sectors capable of generating high added value and sustainable employment remain insufficiently strong.
The quality of growth and competitiveness are also issues worthy of consideration. The economy’s scale remains modest; GRDP per capita has not met expectations and is still below the national average; and the ability to attract large-scale, leading projects remains limited. Several economic zones, particularly Chan May - Lang Co, have yet to fully perform their expected role as growth drivers.
Another bottleneck lies in transforming cultural resources into economic products. Although Hue possesses an exceptionally rich heritage system, its cultural industries are still at an early stage. There remains a lack of creative products capable of international competitiveness, while the nighttime economy, cultural consumption spaces, and creative activities have yet to develop proportionately. In other words, the “resources” already exist, but the “industrialization of resources” remains slow.
In addition, there are “soft bottlenecks”, such as shortages of high-quality human resources, inconsistent governance and policy implementation capacity, and limited regional connectivity. These are factors not easily measured by statistics, yet they have decisive impacts on development quality.
The 2026-2030 period opens with entirely new demands, requiring Hue not only to develop, but to make breakthroughs. The goal of achieving double-digit growth and significantly increasing GRDP per capita is not merely an economic target, but also a measure of the city’s ability to transform its development model.
Opportunities for Hue are very clear. First, infrastructure and institutional foundations are now much stronger than before. Second, development space has expanded toward the sea and regional connectivity. Third, new growth drivers such as the digital economy, cultural industries, logistics, specialized healthcare, and higher education are gradually taking shape. In particular, the knowledge ecosystem centered around Hue University, if effectively utilized, could become a major driver for long-term growth.
However, opportunities can only become real through strong reforms. Hue needs to restructure its industrial sector toward high technology and environmental sustainability; upgrade tourism from a “heritage destination” into a “creative cultural experience center”; develop the marine economy and logistics; improve the investment environment; attract high-quality human resources; and especially enhance urban governance capacity.
More importantly, Hue must remain steadfast in pursuing the path of heritage urban development, a model that is not easy, but if successful, will create a unique and irreplaceable identity. In this model, heritage is not a “burden of preservation”, but a “development resource”; culture is not only the “soul”, but also the “engine”.
Looking ahead, it can be said that Hue is standing before a rare “window of opportunity”. What has been achieved over the past five years is only the foundation. That foundation must continue to be built upon with more breakthrough-oriented, decisive, and creative steps.