Developing the Cultural Industry in Tourist Urban Planning for Highland - International Experiences and the Sa Pa Case.

Abstract

This article introduces international experiences on the cultural industry and soft institutions in cultural and tourism planning, thereby suggesting an application model for Sa Pa. The scope and significance of the research aim towards forming a "creative highland city" model, contributing to the implementation of the Vietnam Cultural Development Strategy to 2045 in the direction of linking culture with sustainable development.
However, the current implementation of the Sa Pa plan shows that the focus is still heavily on hard infrastructure – transportation, accommodation, tourist areas and services – while lacking soft institutional elements, such as mechanisms to encourage creativity, public-private partnerships in the cultural sector, or policies to develop creative communities. This means that Sa Pa, despite significant investment in physical infrastructure, has yet to develop a creative ecosystem capable of disseminating cultural values and building soft competitiveness.
Based on this reality, the central issue is: how to integrate cultural industries and soft institutions into Sa Pa's tourism and cultural development planning, aiming towards a highland creative city model.