"Greening" Vietnam tourism

"Greening" Vietnam tourism 

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have clearly identified six major challenges facing global tourism, which are: Energy issues and the greenhouse effect ; water consumption; waste management and water quality; Biodiversity; biodiversity loss; construction management and cultural diversity.
 
These challenges force world tourism to move towards green growth to ensure sustainable development goals. Trip Advisor's survey also shows that up to 34% of tourists are willing to pay more to stay at environmentally friendly hotels; 50% of tourists do not mind paying more for companies that benefit local communities and conservation activities.
 
This confirms that green tourism development is not only a trend to meet practical requirements, but also a solution to help increase the number of tourists with high spending ability and civilized behavior when traveling.

Some localities and Vietnamese tourism businesses have pioneered "green" transformation to reduce harm to the environment. A typical example is Silk Sense Hoi An River Resort (Quang Nam province) - the first hotel to announce no more plastic waste.
Silk Sense has researched and consulted many domestic and foreign documents to develop a set of criteria for hotels without plastic waste (including 60 criteria) with many specific requirements and regulations in implementing waste classification at source. , handling plastic packaging that is required to be used, calling for the companionship and responsibility of tourists...
Thanks to that, over the past year, Silk Sense has had no plastic waste in the environment. In 2023, the hotel will reduce more than 80,000 single-use plastic bottles and more than 10 tons of plastic waste.

Recently, Co To island district (Quang Ninh province) has also become a bright spot for green tourism on the tourism map. Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Co To district Do Huy Thong said that there was a period, during the peak tourist season, every day Co To had to collect 20 to 30 tons of waste, of which only the amount of waste was collected. Plastic accounts for 1-2 tons/day. Determined to change the current situation, in the 2020-2025 term, the district Party Committee approved the project "Co To island district without plastic waste".
 
To date, all 5/5 travel companies in the area have registered to organize "green" tours; 100% of restaurants, hotels, and small businesses in Co To commit to not using single-use plastic products...

Along with Hoi An and Co To, many "green" destinations, "green" accommodation facilities, and "green" tourism products are being formed in other localities across the country such as Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, and Con Dao. Islands,... However, the number of "greening" conversion units in Vietnamese tourism is still very small, compared to all tourism establishments, accommodation businesses, and food services across the country.

Faced with the fact that many businesses are still hesitant in converting "green" due to funding barriers, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Director of the Institute of Tourism Development Research said that the State needs to have preferential policies, Financial support to encourage investors and businesses to invest in responsible tourism, create green tourism products and services to promote green consumption trends; promote the spirit of the state and people working together, calling on international organizations to participate in support.