Vietnam’s tourism is facing great fluctuations in the number of tourists over the year, which hinders the development of green tourism, Vu Quoc Tri, general secretary of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said at a forum in southern Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province on Friday.

At the forum on Vietnam’s green tourism development in 2023, Tri said Vietnam welcomes a high number of travelers in some periods of the year while seeing much fewer tourists in the low travel season.

When the number of tourists is large, it is hard to manage them and boost green tourism, Tri stressed.

Green tourism development based on the green economy is an indispensable trend. 

Hoi An City in central Quang Nam Province and Co To Island off Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam have successfully employed green tourism models.

However, Vietnam has yet to make breakthroughs and is facing many obstacles in boosting green tourism.

Famed tourist sites are often overcrowded during holidays and tourists’ and local residents’ awareness of green tourism remains low.

Some places have invested in tourism without any knowledge about sustainable development, a representative of local travel firm Vietravel said.

Nguyen Huu Y Yen, chairman of the board of members of Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said the company had developed green tourism following international criteria.

Green tourism development needs the cooperation of the entire ecosystem, including restaurants, hotels, the administration, and the community, along with enterprises.

Many attendees at the forum agreed that Vietnam holds high potential and opportunities to foster green tourism as the country has developed agriculture, a large forest area, a long coastline, and a favorable location to draw up tourism programs in association with nature.

However, the country should review its green tourism development criteria and issue new ones to match the new situation.

A leader of Quang Nam Province’s tourism proposed the government issue policies to encourage and support green and sustainable tourism projects, specifically land leases and natural resource usage-related policies.

Meanwhile, Pham Ngoc Hai, chairman of the Ba Ria – Vung Tau Tourism Association, suggested working out specific sanctions against tourists and those working in the tourism sector who do harm to the environment and sustainable development.

As of the end of last month, Vietnam had welcomed some 10 million international tourist arrivals and served 99 million domestic visitors, according to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism.

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