Proposal to adjust Resolution No. 06 of the Provincial People's Council regulating a number of policies to support tourism development

On the morning of April 19, the Board of Directors of the Provincial Social Policy Bank held a meeting to review and propose adjustments to Resolution No. 06/2021/NQ-HDND dated April 9, 2021 of the Provincial People's Council stipulating a number of policies to support tourism development in Lao Cai province for the period 2021 - 2025.

Comrade Hoang Quoc Khanh, Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Board of Directors of the Provincial Social Policy Bank chaired the meeting.

Attending the meeting were leaders of the Department of Finance, Department of Tourism, and the Provincial Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP).

On April 9, 2021, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution 06/2021/NQ-HDND stipulating a number of policies to support tourism development in Lao Cai province, period 2021 - 2025 (referred to as Resolution 06). After 3 years of implementation, Resolution 06 has come into effect, received the support of the people, initially had a positive impact on tourism development, created more jobs, increased income for people, contributing to the socio-economic development of the province.

Specifically, the Provincial People's Committee has transferred capital from the provincial budget to the Provincial Bank for Social Policies with a total amount of 32 billion VND to support tourism development in the area according to Resolution 06. By March 31, 2024, the Provincial Bank for Social Policies had disbursed nearly 30 billion VND according to the policy of supporting loans for developing community tourism products, with 318 customers receiving loans.

The leader of the Department of Tourism spoke at the meeting.

Regarding the policy to support the establishment and maintenance of folk art clubs and teams at tourist attractions, in 2 years (2022 - 2023), the Provincial People's Committee has allocated a budget of 1.2 billion VND to support folk art clubs and teams at tourist attractions, of which 975 million VND has been disbursed/11 teams (3 teams in Bao Yen, 3 teams in Bac Ha, 5 teams in Sa Pa); Bat Xat district alone is carrying out procedures to disburse to establish new art teams/clubs with a total amount of 240 million VND/6 teams.

However, the implementation of the policy to support loans for investment in tourist attractions has encountered many difficulties, and loans have not yet been issued. In 2 years (2021 - 2022) alone, 12 billion VND had to be transferred from the source of loans for investment in tourist attractions to the source of loans for developing community tourism products. The reason is that borrowers do not meet the conditions for loans, such as lack of legal documents on land and construction; collateral assets are undervalued or do not have collateral assets that meet the conditions for loans.

Director of the Provincial Branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies spoke at the meeting.

At the meeting, representatives of departments and branches said that the support policies under Resolution 06 are very important for the development of the tourism industry in particular and the socio-economic development of the province in general, promptly solving the need for investment resources for community tourism. Therefore, the problems with the policy of supporting loans for investment in tourist destinations need to be resolved soon, the proposal for the Provincial People's Council to adjust some support regulations is very necessary and suitable to the current reality.

Comrade Hoang Quoc Khanh, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, gave a speech at the meeting.

Based on the opinions of departments and branches, Mr. Hoang Quoc Khanh, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, said: Resolution 06 was issued to create momentum for community tourism to develop, create jobs, and increase income for local people. Therefore, putting Resolution 06 into practice is very important. However, in the past 3 years (2021 - 2023), while every year, the province has transferred resources from the provincial budget, entrusted the Bank for Social Policies to lend capital, but has not been able to disburse any cases.

"Industries and localities need to consider and clearly analyze the difficulties and shortcomings and must clearly recognize their responsibility when the difficulties have lasted for up to 3 years without proposing a direction for adjustment," comrade Hoang Quoc Khanh pointed out.

The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Tourism to preside over and coordinate with localities to review, specifically evaluate, and point out difficulties and inadequacies to propose to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and adjustment at the mid-year meeting.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Quoc Khanh said: In general, there is no proposal to adjust the content of support policies, but instead of separating the capital sources for each support policy, it is proposed to adjust in the direction of annually allocating the provincial budget to implement policies to support loans for tourism development. That way, when a support policy encounters problems, the support source can be proactively adjusted to another support policy, avoiding the current backlog of capital support loans for investment in tourist destinations, while the people's demand for capital to invest in developing community tourism products is very large.

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