Tourist waste pollutes seas, rivers

Research shows that effluent from tourist areas is creating environmental problems.

by Hoa Ta

International tourists visit the eco-village of Ta Phin in Sa Pa District in the northern province of Lao Cai. The hotel sector is trying to achieve a more environmentally friendly industry. — VNA/VNS Photo Nhat Anh

HA NOI — Although a booming tourism industry has turned Viet Nam into one of the hottest destinations in all of Asia, rampant waste by the same industry is destroying the country’s charming coasts and waterways.

According to the Nha Trang Bay Reserve, every day, nearly 10 tonnes of waste water are let into the sea by tourism facilities and locals in Nha Trang City.

Statistics from the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Tourism Department showed that only 300cu.m of more than 1,600cu.m of waste water discarded from hotels and resorts were treated each day.

As forecast by the department, the amount of nitrogen discarded into the sea from waste water will be between 26 and 52 tonnes per day by the year 2020.

Research done by the HCM City Institute for Environmental and Natural Resources showed that sea pollution in tourist areas had become more serious in recent years. The level of Total Suspended Solid (TSS) content in beaches like Do Son, Hai Phong, Binh Dinh, Quy Nhon and Vung Tau was normally two to four times higher than the country’s standard level of 25g per cubic metre.

The head of the Institute for Environmental and Natural Resources, Nguyen Van Phuoc, said that construction projects in tourist areas were messy and destroying nearby ocean ecosystems.

Negligence in regards to waste water treatment in tourist areas had resulted in higher levels of organic pollution in the country’s coastal areas, while fishing and souvenir hunting were also harming underwater environments.

The research showed that a lack of awareness on environment protection had made the situation much worse. Along the beaches of Binh Dinh, Nha Trang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, waste water from urban and tourist areas was being discarded into the sea without any treatment.

A report, the Economic Impacts of Sanitation in Viet Nam 2008 by the World Bank, said that about 8.8 per cent of the nation’s total economic costs was a direct result of tourism, with an absolute value of US$69 million.

VNAT was now building a framework for a national action programme for the tourism industry. The programme will aim to communicate with hotel and resort owners to raise their awareness of sustainable development.

The Department of Hotels under VNAT was now working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to build up one set of criteria, giving specific instructions on how to effectively manage energy, water and waste treatments.

The director of the Hotel Department, Nguyen Phuong Anh, said, “It’s not easy to make everyone comply with these standards, as some environmental-friendly facilities will require large investments.”

The department will first focus on education to raise awareness among hotel and resort owners, and then gradually create a set of requirements for all newly-established companies.

With support from the Energy Conservation Research and Development Centre and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, the department was working on the Eco-label Programme in the hotel sector and across ISO 14000, on environmental management standards, to help organisations minimise their operations’ negative effect on the environment.

“This professional working environment in hotels will effect suppliers, who will in turn also have to prove themselves as friendly to the environment.”

The department also helps hotels and resorts promote their own images overseas by nominating their models at international competitions on tourism and environmental programmes.

“Overseas tourists, especially from European countries, are very picky and tend to choose environmentally-friendly services,” said Anh.

According to Anh, the Committee for Standards Reviews will soon be set up, after the department finishes working on a set of environmentally friendly criteria and labelling satisfied units.

Recognising the vital role tourism was playing in saving the environment, businesses have begun their own programmes. The Sai Gon Tourist Company, for example, now uses recycled products in their 15 member hotels. The Victoria Chau Doc Company launched their own Green Logo Programme, which co-operates with local authorities and students to clean up surrounding areas each quarter.

“This is an investment in the future. Viet Nam attracts tourists with its wild and beautiful landscapes, but we won’t be able to survive in the long term if the environment is destroyed,” said Trinh Quang Man, Director of the Victoria Chau Doc Company. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Delta plans tourist quadrangle

Foreign tourists go sight-seeing on the Hau River. Cai Rang floating market in Mekong Delta province Can Tho and My Khanh eco-tourism zone are two of the most attractive destinations in the area. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Nhut.

HCM CITY — A five-year master plan that aims to form a tourism quadrangle in Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta is being developed by the provinces of An Giang and Kien Giang and the cities of Ca Mau and Can Tho.

“The plan is being drawn up because the industry needs co-operation between the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, tourist businesses and tourist business associations,” said Dr Do Cam Tho of the Tourism Development Institute under the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism.

The goal of the master plan, which covers the 2010-15 period with a vision towards 2025, is to develop the region’s socio-economic, cultural and tourism development. Officials from those localities have been working together to upgrade or build new tourist infrastructure as well as encourage other economic sectors to invest in the industry.

Under the master plan, each locality would place an emphasis on its own tourist features that are not similar to others.

Joint activities

Businesses and national tourism promotion agencies must co-ordinate activities for the industry to prosper, Tho said.

Other joint activities include training personnel, building a tourism promotion centre and websites, and improving the quality of tourism products and services.

Under the plan, Kien Giang Province’s Phu Quoc Island, known for world-class beaches, is slated to become an international-standard eco-tourism area.

The draft plan for the island calls for luxury entertainment services, five-star hotels, casinos, conference halls, exhibition and trade centres, training centres and centres for advanced scientific research.

Also planned are duty-free zones for air and sea ports, craft villages and a centre for hi-tech agricultural production for tourism.

Officials working on the master plan said infrastructure in the quadrangle area, including bridges, roads, airports and ferries, needed to be upgraded or newly built.

More three to five-star hotels and attractive recreational facilities should be built, they said.

Tourism products were still poor and very few craft villages attracted foreign visitors, officials said.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta welcomes about 3.5 million tourists every year.

The quadrangle of An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Can Tho employs 3,000 people in the tourism sector, but only 50 per cent have received formal training.

To meet the increasing demand of tourism in the region, the Delta needs at least 10,000 employees, and they should be professionally trained, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Foreign tourist arrivals rise 16%

Tourists visit Sa Pa in Lao Cai Province. Viet Nam receives 315,000 foreign tourists in August, up 16 per cent over the previous month. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI — Viet Nam received some 315,000 foreign tourists last month, up 16 per cent over the previous month but down 8 per cent over the same period last year, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism.

August’s increase lifted the total number of foreign arrivals to the country in the first eight months of the year to more than 2.4 million. However, the eight-month figure was a 17.7 per cent decrease over the same period last year.

In the first eight months of the year, most of foreign tourists came from China (300,000), the US (293,000), South Korea and Japan.

Vu The Binh, of the administration’s travel department said , though still declining, the rate of decrease of the number of foreign tourists to the country last month compared with the same period last year was slower than previous months thanks to a series of promotion campaigns including “Impressive Viet Nam” in which all-in tours were discounted between January and September.

He recommended the Government boost tourism promotion campaigns to help the tourist industry to recover.

Tran The Dung, deputy head of the Domestic Tourism Stimulus Group in HCM City, said his group was negotiating with tour operators and travel agents in the central and northern provinces to introduce a discount of 40 per cent on tours instead of the current 35 per cent.

Dung said that since September, several tour operators and travel agents had agreed to accept an additional reduction of 5-10 per cent over August.

The group also recommended the administration ask Vietnam Airlines to continue its fare discounting programme to the end of the year. Vietnam Airlines earlier this year applied a 30 per cent fare reduction to travel companies in a move to boost international travellers. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn