On April 30, 2026, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism （TCDL） jointly with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism announced the first batch of on-site evaluation listings for the “Vietnam-China Premium Tourism Supplier Program”, and the ‘Home of Oracle Bone Script · Anyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Study Tour Route’ operated by Henan Le Travel Agency was included among them. This program directly affects the qualification recognition for procurement by overseas study tour groups from Vietnamese primary and secondary schools, and has a substantive impact on such segmented fields as cross-border cultural and tourism services, study tour product development, the transformation of intangible cultural heritage content, and outbound tourism supply chains.

Event Overview

On April 30, 2026, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism （TCDL） and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism jointly released the first batch of on-site evaluation listings for the “Vietnam-China Premium Tourism Supplier Program”. The ‘Home of Oracle Bone Script · Anyang Intangible Cultural Heritage Study Tour Route’ submitted by Henan Le Travel Agency was included in this list. The evaluation results will be directly linked to the qualification for procurement of services within China by Vietnamese primary and secondary school study tour groups. At present, the publicly available information is limited to the release of the list, the project name, the applicant entity, and the positioning of the evaluation mechanism; specific evaluation criteria, timeline milestones, or subsequent admission procedures have not yet been disclosed.

Which segmented industries will be affected

Cross-border cultural and tourism service enterprises

This program uses “preferred supplier selection” as its mechanism, incorporating travel agencies within China that have study tour service capabilities into Vietnam’s official procurement whitelist system. The impact is reflected in: the pathway for obtaining service qualifications shifting from market-based competition to policy-oriented admission; the structure of order sources potentially tilting toward institutions with distinctive cultural identifiers and standardized curriculum capabilities; and significantly higher compliance requirements for itinerary design, teaching staff arrangements, safety filing, and related areas.

Intangible cultural heritage content development and operating institutions

The selected route takes “Oracle Bone Script” and “Anyang Intangible Cultural Heritage” as its core labels, indicating that the Vietnamese market has structural demand for intangible cultural heritage resources supported by clear archaeology/historical IP and capable of modular educational transformation. The impact is reflected in: greater difficulty in implementing standalone display-oriented intangible cultural heritage projects; the need to provide education-oriented deliverables such as curriculum outlines, bilingual teaching aids, and age-appropriate activity designs; and new interface requirements for collaborative models between local cultural and tourism authorities and inheritors of intangible cultural heritage.

Organizers of overseas study tour groups for primary and secondary schools （including international schools and education technology platforms）

The procurement qualifications of Vietnamese primary and secondary school study tour groups are linked to the evaluation results, which means that the qualification status of Chinese service providers will in turn affect the stability of their outbound itinerary planning. The impact is reflected in: itinerary plans needing to incorporate in advance Chinese supplier resources that have passed or are pending evaluation; pre-verification requirements being raised for the compliance responsiveness of Chinese partners （such as insurance coverage, emergency contacts, and visa coordination）; and soft service capabilities such as cross-language teaching coordination and explanations for cultural adaptation becoming implicit thresholds.

Outbound tourism supply chain service providers

These include roles such as transportation transfer services, accommodation fulfillment, insurance agencies, and multilingual guided tour system providers. As this program focuses on “study tour groups”, its service targets are characterized by high frequency, small scale, strong timeliness, and high safety sensitivity. The impact is reflected in: conventional FIT service standards being insufficient to cover the needs of study tour scenarios; the need to support customized fulfillment record traceability by school/by class; and certain links （such as real-time sharing of vehicle GPS and encrypted transmission of teachers’ and students’ health data） potentially being included in future extended evaluation items.

What key points should relevant enterprises or practitioners pay attention to, and how should they respond at present

Pay attention to the subsequent evaluation rules and timetable to be released by the Vietnamese authorities

At present, only the list has been published, without explaining the evaluation methods （such as document review, on-site inspection, or pilot group testing）, cycle arrangements, or the validity period of results. It is recommended that relevant enterprises continue to monitor the official TCDL website and announcements from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, with a focus on whether a phased admission mechanism （such as preliminary list → official list → annual review） will be established.

Distinguish between policy signals and the actual pace of business implementation

The release of the list is a procedural action and does not mean bulk procurement will immediately take shape. Judging from observation, practical variables such as the scale of Vietnamese primary and secondary school study tour groups traveling to China, budget approval processes, and school-side decision-making chains have not yet been disclosed. At present, it is more appropriate to understand this as the opening of a window period for qualification building, rather than a precursor to an order surge.

Sort out and formalize verifiable evidence of study tour service delivery in advance

Including but not limited to: key pages of contracts for overseas study tour groups undertaken in the past three years （with sensitive information redacted）, bilingual versions of curriculum lesson plans, proof of teacher qualifications, filing receipts for safety emergency plans, and summaries of evaluations from partner schools. Such materials are expected to become core evidence for on-site evaluations, and it is recommended that they be archived by module and undergo preliminary compliance review.

Strengthen the awareness of coordinated filing with local cultural and tourism authorities

This route was submitted by Henan Le Travel Agency and relies on Anyang’s regional cultural resources. From an analytical perspective, local governments play an irreplaceable role in the overall planning of intangible cultural heritage resources and cross-departmental coordination （such as education, public security, and transportation）. If enterprises intend to expand similar projects, they need to simultaneously connect with local cultural tourism and education departments to ensure closed-loop support in such aspects as route filing, joint safety review, and publicity messaging.

Editor’s Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Observably, this program is currently closer to an institutional signal rather than a mature procurement result. Its value lies not in the selection of a single route, but in making explicit for the first time, in the form of “China-Vietnam bilateral cultural and tourism supplier certification”, the technical pathway for incorporating China’s local cultural resources （such as Oracle Bone Script） into Vietnam’s educational travel procurement system. From an industry perspective, this marks Vietnam’s attempt to build a standardized inbound study tour supply framework for the K12 group that is distinct from mass tourism. However, whether this framework can continue to operate sustainably still depends on Vietnam’s education budget execution capability, schools’ willingness to adopt it, and the long-term fulfillment stability of Chinese service providers. Therefore, the industry needs to continue observing whether a second batch of listings will appear, whether it will expand to routes in other provinces, and whether supporting funding or visa facilitation measures will be introduced simultaneously.

Conclusion: The core industry significance of this information lies in revealing that Vietnam is incorporating Chinese cultural and tourism services into an institutionalized procurement track for the international practice component of its basic education system. At present, it is more appropriate to understand this as the starting point for building a qualification system for cross-border study tour services, rather than immediate confirmation of market expansion. All parties should advance capability building with a prudent and practical attitude, and avoid misjudging policy signals as short-term order opportunities.

Explanation of information sources:
Main sources: official announcement on the website of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism （TCDL）, and the joint release document issued by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism on April 30, 2026.
Parts pending continued observation: detailed evaluation implementation rules, the rhythm of subsequent list updates, and the actual group size and procurement execution situation of Vietnamese primary and secondary schools.