For Hue, Resolution 80-NQ/TW (Res 80) opens up a vital opportunity to transform cultural and heritage potential into resources for sustainable development. However, to achieve this goal, it is necessary to fully recognize the existing “bottlenecks” in the management, preservation, and promotion of heritage values.

On October 14 in Hanoi, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Hue City People’s Committee signed an Action plan for cooperation on the development of culture, sports, and tourism through 2030. Hue City is the first locality to sign such a cooperation plan, aiming to tap into the potential and advantages of the city as a heritage city, a Festival City, and a distinctive cultural center of Vietnam.

As Hue moves toward its goal of becoming a distinctive heritage city and a major cultural and tourism hub for Vietnam and Southeast Asia by 2030, external relations, particularly cultural diplomacy, are taking on a strategic role. This is what Vice Chairman of Hue City People’s Committee Tran Huu Thuy Giang announced about how Hue can turn its cultural ‘soft power’ into a driving force for sustainable socio-economic development.

On the afternoon of 30/9, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee and Chairman of Hue City People's Committee Le Tri Thanh led a survey of several heritage sites and cultural spaces to assess their current conditions and study ways to promote their historical, architectural and landscape values.

More than three decades after UNESCO inscribed the Complex of Hue Monuments as a World Cultural Heritage Site (1993), nearly 200 structures and components have been restored, helping turn heritage into a resource for development in the new period.

At Vietnam - Japan Local Cooperation Forum 2026, the thematic session ‘From Heritage Conservation to Cultural Industries: Unlocking Potential and Connecting Opportunities for Local Cooperation’ highlighted how heritage is increasingly being seen as a resource for development when connected with communities, technology, tourism and cultural industries.

The Government’s issuance of Decree No. 282/2026/ND-CP on July 14th, 2026, to provide guidance for the implementation of Resolution No. 28/2026/QH16 on the development of Vietnamese culture and establishing criteria for piloting the cultural heritage city model, has opened up a new approach to the relationship between conservation and development.

As Hue City advances its development as a centrally governed heritage city, the need to fully identify and recognize the city's cultural, historical, landscape, and human values has become increasingly urgent.

On June 24, Hue City Women’s Union, in coordination with the city’s Forest Protection Department, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Small Grants Programme (SGP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organized the program “The Cultural Colors of the Bru - Van Kieu People” in Phuc Loc Village, Hung Loc Commune.

Being nominated for “Asia’s Leading Cultural City Destination” at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2026 can be considered an encouraging sign for the potential development of Vietnam’s cultural and tourism sectors.