Initial impressive statistics
The National Strategy for the Development of Vietnamese Cultural Industries until 2020, with a vision to 2030, issued by the Government in 2016, has brought about a clear and positive transformation in most of these industries.
Estimates from the General Statistics Office showed that businesses in cultural and artistic product sectors contributed about 2.68% of GDP in 2015, but this figure increased to about 3.61% by 2018. The average annual growth rate in the number of economic establishments operating in cultural industries reached 7.21%. The proportion of labourers in cultural industries was estimated at 3.10% in 2018 and will increase to 4.42% by 2022. Notably, these statistics only include legally registered business entities and do not account for freelancers in this field, whose numbers are on the rise, especially among the younger generation born after 1996.
Some industries that have achieved outstanding success include cinema, television programme production, music recording, and publishing, reflected in steadily increasing revenues from 2018 to 2022 (from 22.35 to 31 trillion VND). The number of economic establishments in these sectors has also gradually increased annually, specifically from 1,351 in 2018 to 1,879 in 2022. In the cinema industry alone, by 2023, Vietnam had about 500 companies certified to produce films, referred to as “film studios,” a tenfold increase compared to 2000.
Handicrafts also recorded remarkable development. Between 2018 and 2022, the production value of this sector increased from approximately 23 trillion VND to 34.9 trillion VND, with an average growth of 11.07% and a human resource growth of 10.86%, from 83,114 people to 125,184 people.
Many challenges
However, behind many of the positive statistics mentioned above, feedback from those directly involved in the cultural industries in Vietnam indicates that there are still numerous difficulties, particularly regarding the legal framework and the quality of human resources.
According to Nguyen Ba Hai, Deputy Director of the Centre for Investment and Development of Industry and Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, a survey of over 100 handicraft production enterprises in Ninh Binh Province shows a tangible risk of human resource shortages, especially in the continuity following generations of artisans, the high-quality labour force in the handicraft industry. For example, in the embroidery industry, skilled and experienced workers over 40 are not easily accepted by production facilities, and those under this age are not enthusiastic about the embroidery profession, particularly the younger generation under 30.
The lack of high-quality human resources is also considered a leading cause of difficult-to-overcome limitations in many domestic cultural industries, such as increasingly common copyright infringement, the prolonged state of outsourcing products for foreign partners, a lack of confidence in cooperation and linking industries and fields domestically and internationally, due to language proficiency limitations and the ability to keep up with global creative trends.
In reality, the main limitations of implementing the National Strategy for the Development of Vietnamese Cultural Industries until 2020, with a vision to 2030, lie in human issues. In particular, there is no mechanism for coordination, mobilisation, and distribution of resources between the public and private sectors. Many "bottlenecks" and "barriers" stem from social awareness and legal regulations, not keeping pace with dynamic practical demands. One example is the "bottleneck" in licensing performing arts events. For foreign artists to transfer deposits through the banks, the organisers must have a performance license for the artists. "But this license is only available a few days before the event takes place, whereas in the music industry, everything is prepared one to two years in advance," musician Quoc Trung shared in Nhan Dan Weekly earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the remarkable development of digital technology and the visual economy trend has led to an emerging series of new cultural and artistic products on globally ubiquitous online platforms. Le Quoc Vinh, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Le Group of Companies, stated that China alone has created over 100 applications for producing creative digital content, such as short reels, gradually dominating the internet and spreading its influence to Europe. This development simultaneously causes Vietnamese cultural industries many challenges, not only regarding high-quality production labour but also in constructing, managing, and implementing related mechanisms and policies.
Therefore, it is none other than humans who can improve these limitations, starting by continuing to raise awareness and innovative thinking about cultural industries. Drawing from the development practices of cultural industries in several developed countries, Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director of the International Relations Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, recommended that it is crucial to start by changing perceptions and applying a new concept of "cultural and creative industries," in Vietnam. This approach can create a strong transformation in reshaping the ecosystem of these industries, turning them into a composite economic sector instead of a singular segmented sector as it has been, to attract all potential social resources.
