Khanh Hoa: Towards green and sustainable tourism development

On the morning of April 26, in the city. Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee organized a local policy forum with the topic: “Developing green and sustainable tourism”. Attending the forum were Mr. Nguyen Tan Tuan – Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Dinh Van Thieu – Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Nguyen Trung Khanh – Director of Vietnam National Tourism Administration (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism); members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, leaders of departments, branches and branches of the province, tourism experts, and businesses inside and outside the province.

Green tourism – an inevitable trend

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tan Tuan expressed: In recent times, Khanh Hoa tourism has taken steps to recover and develop strongly after the pandemic, serving as a premise to continue the success of the period. In the past period, the image of Khanh Hoa tourism has become more and more widely spread and received the love of domestic and international friends and tourists. However, besides these achievements, tourism is currently facing many challenges in developing, exploiting, and using natural resources as well as problems of local overcrowding, seasonality, and other problems. in environmental management, improving quality and diversifying tourism products, the impact of climate change and sea level rise. Therefore, for tourism to develop sustainably, it is essential to follow green tourism. Developing green tourism not only plays an important role in protecting the environment and resources, but also brings new values ​​to tourism products, contributing to improving economic efficiency, while maintaining long-term, sustainable exploitation ability. In particular, Resolution 09 of the Politburo as well as the planning of Khanh Hoa province approved by the Prime Minister both set the goal: By 2030, Khanh Hoa will be a centrally run city; is an international marine tourism and service center; is the growth pole, the center of the South Central Coast region, the Central Highlands and the whole country in terms of marine economy. Accordingly, the Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee hopes that the Forum will provide solutions and orientations to build Khanh Hoa tourism into a green and sustainable tourism industry, contributing to comprehensive development and prosperity. prosperity of Vietnam in general and Khanh Hoa in particular in the future.

At the forum, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh – Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration and Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – Director of the Tourism Research Institute (Vietnam National Tourism Administration) both emphasized the development of green tourism. is a trend in the world as well as in Vietnam. The United Nations Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) has identified tourism development towards green growth as an important, necessary and inevitable development path and emphasized the role of tourism as one of the factors. promote green economic development. Vietnam’s tourism development strategy to 2030 also determines: Sustainable and inclusive tourism development, on the foundation of green growth, maximizing the contribution of tourism to sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The focus is on managing and using natural resources effectively, protecting the environment and biodiversity, proactively adapting to climate change, ensuring national defense and security; focus on developing cultural tourism, linking tourism development with preserving and promoting heritage values ​​and national cultural identity… However, from the orientation of tourism development towards green growth to Implementation action in practical conditions is a long-term process that requires full awareness and participation of the entire society to change the way of exploiting resources, providing tourism services as well as influencing the habits of the whole society. familiar with tourism consumption, improving capacity and efficiency of tourism management in general.

Lots of potential to develop green tourism

At the forum, many experts assessed that Khanh Hoa has outstanding advantages in marine tourism resources and with a system of famous islands, archipelagos, and coastal bays (Van Phong, Cam Ranh, Nha Trang) along with beautiful beaches, waters, islands with biodiversity, potential for marine nature conservation… Besides, the province also has Hon Ba nature reserve, forests in Khanh Son and Khanh Vinh. Khanh Hoa also has a strategic position in marine economic development, conveniently accessible by road, air, sea, and railway. Over the past many years, Khanh Hoa has become a major sea and island tourism center of the country and the region with high-quality sea and island resort tourism products, eco-tourism, and high-quality tourism that attract tourists. domestically and internationally. Khanh Hoa tourism has made effective development steps, contributing large revenues to the local budget and national tourism. However, the overall results achieved are still not commensurate with the potential and advantages. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that Khanh Hoa tourism’s ability to adapt to unusual fluctuations and crises is still low, its seasonality and dependence on some markets are still quite clear, especially the challenges of Environmental protection during development. Also at the forum, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh – Director of the Department of Tourism frankly admitted that although Khanh Hoa tourism has achieved many results, it is not sustainable. This is a situation where infrastructure is overloaded, causing traffic congestion in coastal urban areas, especially in the city. Nha Trang; lack of entertainment and shopping centers of national and international scale (only Vinpearl amusement park, Nha Trang); Focusing on investment, construction and development of various types of tourism towards green and sustainable goals is still limited and has not received much attention from localities to invest in and develop. High-quality tourist accommodation establishments (3-5 stars) have become increasingly conscious of limiting the use of single-use plastic products with environmentally friendly products; However, maintaining the use of environmentally friendly products is still difficult due to high costs…

Accordingly, experts have proposed solutions to develop green and sustainable tourism on the basis of effective and sustainable exploitation and use of resources and marine economic advantages to make tourism an economic sector. A spearhead, able to flexibly adapt to economic, social and environmental changes, making Khanh Hoa a high-quality marine tourism center in the region and the world is an important goal in the coming time. . In particular, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh – Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration requested Khanh Hoa to pay attention to: Strengthening destination management and managing a green, clean, beautiful and civilized tourism environment. Encourage the application of “green” tourism production solutions, using renewable energy, environmentally friendly energy, controlling waste discharge, treating waste and emissions in tourism activities, reducing Minimize impact on the environment, especially the marine environment. Diversify tourism products, continue to improve and upgrade specific, high-quality tourism products to meet the needs of diverse tourist markets, prioritize development investment projects Developing island ecological resort products, health care products, sports tourism, experiences, and environmental education. In particular, the province needs to focus on developing green, friendly tourism products, protecting the marine environment, adapting to climate change, exploiting indigenous culture and local communities; Develop tourism products on the basis of exploiting eco-tourism and community tourism associated with conservation activities of marine and island biodiversity and creating sustainable livelihoods for the community. continue to improve the quality of tourism human resources commensurate with a regional and international island resort tourism center; applying digital transformation in green tourism destination management, developing smart tourism destinations, controlling tourism activities to increase the efficiency of resource use, and control environmental quality; Promote communication about green tourism…

Also at the forum, Associate Professor. Dr. Phan Thi Thuc Anh – VinUni University proposed that in order to develop green tourism, in the coming time Khanh Hoa needs to release a set of criteria for green tourism, then conduct evaluation and certification of tourism brands. green calendar; There needs to be policies to encourage the development of green tourism. Mr. Hoang Quoc Hoa – Director of the Tourism Information Center, Vietnam National Tourism Administration suggested that Khanh Hoa needs to strengthen communication and tourism promotion on digital platforms; promote interconnection with the national tourism database; Encourage green transformation in tourism activities, especially applications… Notably, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Trung Luong – Former Deputy Director of the Tourism Research Institute (Vietnam National Tourism Administration) said that Khanh Hoa has great potential. huge potential for green tourism. However, developing green tourism in Vietnam in general and Khanh Hoa in particular has countless difficulties. The first difficulty is the problem of awareness, then the policy and resources to develop green tourism are still weak, besides the problem of human resources. “We talk a lot about developing green tourism, but that is policy, there is no policy to support and promote green tourism development…”, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Trung Luong shared.

Speaking at the conclusion of the forum, on behalf of the provincial leaders, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Dinh Van Thieu acknowledged the valuable, profound and responsible contributions of the speakers, scientists and delegates. . At the same time, it is recommended that the Department of Tourism preside over and coordinate with relevant departments, branches and localities to receive comments from experts and delegates to advise the Provincial People’s Committee to propose to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. , relevant ministries and branches complete the system of legal documents to guide and strengthen the management of green and sustainable tourism development for implementation; Research and consult with the Provincial People’s Committee to submit to the Provincial People’s Council for promulgation of a Resolution on mechanisms and policies to support the development orientation of green and sustainable tourism in the province in the coming time; Attention should be paid to linking the green tourism development planning in accordance with the planning orientation of the province and the planning of related sectors. In addition, Mr. Dinh Van Thieu proposed that the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs research and advise on promulgating policies to attract tourism human resources; Developing human resources to ensure the quantity and quality of tourism workers, strengthening links in training; Support the development of local community tourism to meet green and sustainable development. The Department of Information and Communications supports the implementation of digital transformation and smart tourism in tourism activities; Build an information operation center to support tourists; Implement tourism destination digitalization; Build Khanh Hoa Tourism Digital Map to serve green and sustainable tourism development. Relevant local departments and branches propagate and mobilize agencies, units, and businesses in the province to unify awareness, implementation, and awareness… from all levels to the residential community and businesses. and tourists in green and sustainable tourism development.

XUAN THANH – DINH LAM