The doi moi or “Renovation” programme of political and economic reforms was
introduced by the Vietnamese Congress in 1986. This policy decentralised aspects of
governance and planning and streamlined the government bureaucracy. Reforms were
enacted to promote the private sector as an economic driver, and to permit state and
privately-owned industries to trade directly in foreign and international markets. Doi moi
has been extremely successful in transforming Vietnam from a stagnant, unstable,
centrally planned Soviet-style economy to a dynamic and quickly growing marketoriented
economy grounded in a socialist society (Kokko, 1998, p. 2). Events such as the
end of the US trade embargo on Vietnam in 1994 and Vietnam’s 1995 entry into
ASEAN, as well as Vietnam’s admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO) at
the beginning of 2007, indicate an increasing re-integration of Vietnam into international
capitalist markets. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been involved in assisting
Vietnam in developing a tourism policy and a tourism master plan to impose some
organisation on this still-emerging market, as well as helping to draft the country’s first
ever tourism law.
Before the open door policy doi moi, the Vietnamese government had
monopolised all tourism sectors. In 1987, one year after doi moi, the state issued the Law
on Foreign Investment, which encouraged foreign direct investment in Vietnam,
especially in the tourism industry. Parallel to the rush of foreign investment that
followed, private enterprises also increased in number, leading to the end of the