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National tourist attractions are threatened without environmental protection
Hong Hanh - Nguyen Tung 15:21, 2017/07/29
A seminar on Environment Protection at Tourism Spots was held on July 28 at the Trang An Eco Tourism Complex in Ninh Binh province by the Tourism Magazine.
At the seminar, the director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment (MOCST) Tu Manh Luong,  said that the tourism development plan up to 2020 with a vision to 2030 has identified 47 national tourism areas across  the country. These are attractive destinations with rich and diverse tourist resources.
 
Overview of the meeting.
Overview of the meeting.
National tourism attractions in the past few years have received the majority of domestic and  foreign tourists, contributing to the development of the Vietnamese tourism and the local economy. However,  the drastic development has negatively  affected   the tourism environment.
 
Tourism  solid waste  and waste water discharge that have not yet been dealt with thoroughly, leaving the environment  damaged, especially in  spots located downstream of rivers. The lack of restrooms is rampant in most of the tourism sites and failing to meet the demand of visitors. The existing restrooms are degrading, unable to ensure safety and satisfaction for tourists. 
 
According to   the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Marine Environment Pham Trung Luong: “Many coastal attractions have been severely affected, even to the point of extinction such as Ana Madara (Thuan An, Thua Thien-Hue), Cua Dai (Hoi An, Quang Nam), Khai Long (Ca Mau). The impact of climate change on tourism development in Vietnam has become so serious that  warnings have been issued.”
 
According to the Deputy Director of the Institute of Researching and Developing Tourism  Truong Sy Vinh, the growing number of tourists discharge a growing number of garbage, especially in major tourism areas. The development of tourism also increases congestion and air, water and noise pollution.  Tourism has also modified sceneries, ecosystems and animal habitats.  Traditional values of the ethnic minority people  have been changed through everyday interaction with tourists.
 
“Many  tourist resorts are not fully aware of the connection between their businesses and the environment. As state regulator, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has not issued  documents guiding the environment impact assessment and control for tourism businesses”, Vinh said. 
 
In 2016, as assigned by  the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism (MCST),  the  Tourism Development Research (ITDR) has  worked out a set of  requirements  and standardized procedures  on  environment protection for tourism businesses to apply.
 
After being approved, the set of standards has been piloted in Trang An, Tuan Chau and the ceramic village of Bat Trang.  Those places have failed to meet some of the requirements such as restrooms which is only complied by Tuan Chau resort; or the non-smoking standard only observed by major hotels or high-end services.   
 
Therefore, in order to ensure sustainable tourism development at national tourism attractions, experts at the seminar suggested  consistent measures including finalizing regulations on environmental protection; focusing on efficient planning tourism attractions; improving environmental protection capabilities at tourism sites; increasing frequency of monitoring and  environment inspection; creating incentives for people to protect  the environment; increasing international cooperation in sustainable tourism development.
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