Managing the Low-Carbon Transition of Tourism in Vietnam: Policy Progress, Practice and Governance Gaps

Vietnam has placed green growth and net-zero emissions by 2050 at the centre of its tourism policy, while also setting some of the most ambitious volume targets in Southeast Asia. In 2025 the country received 21.2 million international arrivals, 84.3% of them by air, and new policy now aims for 45 to 50 million international and 160 million domestic visitors by 2030. This paper asks whether the way green tourism is currently managed in Vietnam is capable of reconciling these two goals. Using qualitative document analysis of national policy texts, sector statistics, certification schemes and destination initiatives published between 2012 and 2026, the study maps the policy architecture, the management instruments in use and the practices visible at destination level. The findings show a rich layer of strategic commitments but a thin layer of carbon management. There is no national baseline or routine measurement of tourism emissions, the national green tourism criteria are still being prepared, certification remains voluntary and fragmented, and tourism sits outside the pilot emissions trading scheme. At destination level, the most visible green initiatives target single-use plastic rather than energy or transport, the main sources of tourism emissions. The paper describes this as a gap between “green” as a waste and image agenda and “low-carbon” as an accounting and investment agenda. It proposes a sequence of management responses: measure first, set destination-level carbon budgets, align labels with carbon indicators, and tie growth incentives to emission intensity. The analysis is relevant to other fast-growing destinations in emerging economies that adopt net-zero targets before building the systems needed to track them.