Present and future ecotourism development in the mekong delta 1

't HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESENT AND FUTURE ECOTOURISM DEVEWPMENT IN THE MEKONG DELTA Instructor: Mr Le Hoang Anh Student : Nguy@nTrQng Nghla, Class: LA9602 HCMC, July 2000 , , ' '; " r:T' " ~,', ''t ': HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,' SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES " 03.:.~ :: , ',,< :~ , ' , f7I2A()UATI()~ VAV~12 " "" :;,'5 :)", : \ •',.j ,_.> ; '; ' ~~,- ' ' PRESENT AND FUTURE EC(Jf()lJRISM DEVEWPMENT , ", '.~ ~'i' '~ " :' IN THE MEKONG DELTA ' - ~ -.; , ~ r- :: " , " J ; ~; ~ " Instructor: Mr Le Hoang AIih Student : Nguy~n TrQng Nghia, Class: LA9602 -, , r"" !in HtFtJI kL f' n 'j ::; n : :.;'; , " HCMC, July 2000 ' ~, ; " : ;~ !: :", ,".'._,', ' '.: ~ f + -, .• " ~, ' ' f.; • ' ~' '-, -' : ', ', '; ' " ~ ' ~:" ' " ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In completing encouragement, this research paper, I have received invaluable advice and help from teachers, experts, and friends First of all, I would like to thank my instructor, Mr Le Hoang Anh, for commending and providing materials and for giving me ideas and advices in widening my knowledge of this issue and completing this paper I am also grateful to the teachers of Foreign Language Department for encouraging and providing me useful comments and advice I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people and organizations for their helps and supports: Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in HUFLIT, Tourist Branch Offices of Can Tho, Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Ben Tre Provinces Last but not least, I also wish to express my great appreciation friends' supports and encouragement to my ABSTRACT In recent years, ecotourism industry has brought great benefits to developing countries, Vietnam is not excluded Number visitors to natural areas increases more and more Unfortunately, culture, landscapes the industry has also caused many serious consequences etc Therefore, it is very essential to examine to nature, the theories and practices of ecotourism fdevelopment The first part of this paper aims at providing theories data, information derived from literature and practiced activities of ecotouriSI11in some countries and in Vietnam The study also analyzes some remarkable A collection of information factors that effect the industry development from printed materials brings a further understanding both in Vietnamese of such aspects as its importance, and English roles, principles, functions toward environment, culture, economy and so on The second part introduces the potentials for ecotourism alluvial soil and fresh water of the Mekong Delta development The potentials in the comprise tourist attractions in the studied area, those in vicinity regions and in neighboring countries Thirdly, the paper observes present ways of ecotourism exploitation in the area It emphasizes positive results that the regional tourist industry has achieved On the other side, this part pays especial attention to the weak points of management, natural and cultural preservation In recommendations, to effectively the part presents some suggestions and opinions which try exploit the available potential and to partly work out those weak points that the tourism industry are facing with THE TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: ECOTOURISM - LITERATURE REVIEW Pages - 21 1.1 Definition of ecotourism 1.2 The 'green' in ecotoUlism development 1.3 Principles of sustainable ecotourism development 1.4 The impacts of ecotourism 1.4.1 1.4.2 Positive impacts 11 1.4.1.1 Benefits to the local 11 1.4.1.2 Benefits to the environment 15 1.4.1.3 Benefits to the culture 16 1.4.1.4 Benefits to tourism enterprises and other economic industries 16 Negative ilupacts 18 1.4.2.1 On natural environment 18 1.4.2.2 On cultural environment 20 CHAPTER TWO: ECOTOURISM POTENTIALS IN THE REGION 2.1 Pages 22 - 44 Advantages for developing ecotourism 24 2.1.1 Environmental advantages 24 2.1.2 Geographic advantages 27 2.1.2.1 Relations with vicinity provinces ~ 27 2.1.2.2 Relations with vicinity countries 29 2.1.3 2.2 11 Humanistic advantages 31 2.1.3.1 Diversified culture 31 2.1.3.2 "Rural civilization" 36 Typical tourist attractions 37 2.2.1 37 Natural tourist spots 2.2.2 Cultural tourist spots 39 2.2.3 Historical tourist spots 42 CHAPTER THREE: THE PRESENT ECOTOURISM EXPLOITATION 3.1 The positive ways of exploitation 3.2 Weaknesses / obstacles 46 47 3.2.1 Environmental problems 3.2.2 Cultural problems 48 3.2.3 Tour operation problems 50 3.2.3.1 Simple tours and lack of entertainment 50 3.2.3.2 Overlapped tours 51 3.2.4 Awareness of the community 3.2.5 Issues on tourist staff and services 3.2.6 Advertisement issues : ~ 47 54 55 : 56 CHAPTER FOUR: RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Pages 45 - 57 Pages 58 - 68 Developing ecotourism potentials 59 4.1.1 Environment preservation 59 4.1.2 Unique traditional cultural preservation 60 4.2 Improving capacity of tourist servers 62 4.3 Extending internal co-operations 62 4.3.1 Co-operations from local residents 62 4.3.2 Co-operations from other parties 63 4.4 Expanding external co-operations 64 4.4.1 From other regions 64 4.4.2 From other countries 65 4.5 Planning tourist destinations 65 4.6 Establishing 'Tourist Association of The Mekong Delta' 66 CONCLUSION 69 REFERENCES _~~ ~ ~~ Pages 70 - 73 ~~J INTRODUCTION The Vietnam National Administration and cultural tourism the key prospects Vietnamese of Tourism has pledged that ecotourism in the long- term development tourism industry Ecotourism has been a very successful plan of the kind of tour generating great benefits in modem time Vietnam with diversified ecology will surely become an attractive Organisation destination for ecotourism (WTO) has forecasted around the Mekong in the near future»World Tourism that travelling on Mekong River area, especially Delta in Vietnam, will become one of the ten famous tourist destinations in the World in coming years (Phan Anh, 1998) Due to the special features of ecotourism potentials, develop ecotourism the Mekong Delta of Vietnam has plenty of conditions to But what it has achieved is not correlated to its great potentials More over, how to preserve the ecotourist environment is still a controversial problem Therefore, V and to observe generated the purpose of this study is to evaluat; the present exploitation to the ecotourism potentials of the resources by this kind of travel will be carefully contribute to the national travel development In addition, the benefits anaiysed (fhe study t> ai~d to in the contest of ecotourism, especially in Mekong Delta, and to preserve country's environment and natural resources This paper examin~50me typical existing tours to recom~nd be used to serve for researching, improvements Besides, it would studying in ecotourism field According to the natural and cultural features, the Mekong Delta can be divided into four ecotourist areas with different features The paper focuses on ok: of the four Iv"" areas, which covers the upper part of the Delta stretching along Tien River and Hau River with area about one million hectares In other words, the region is named as region of alluvial soil and fresh water It consists of some districts of the provinces, including An Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, Vinh Long and Tien Giang J IIJIfl1.r CHAPTER ONE ECOTOURISM- LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of Ecotourism Ecotourism is one of the fasted growmg trends in the world- wide tourism industry The term 'ecotourism' has been defined in many ways, and is generally used to describe tourism activities which are conducted in harmony with nature, as opposed to more traditional than 'mass' tourism activities It will be best if a sufficient one is worked out That can be the most basic guidelines for development of this business The following are some definitions of previous researchers According defined to Sylive Blargy and Megan Epler Wood (1999), Ecotourism as a kind of tour that's conservation responsible to the nature is and environmental It also creates and remains benefits to the local residents This type of tour depends much on the wildly natural resources Different from the above writers, David western, (1999) emphasizes on the tourist need of nature He stated that ecotourism is the creation and satisfaction for the need of nature It exploits the tourist resources for preservation and development, prevents ecology, culture, aesthetic from negative impacts." An international Vietnam" seminar of "Setting a National project for ecotourism development organized last time has provided an important definition kind of tour that relies on nature and local culture associated education It contribute to preservation of the local residents", and sustainable development (Tran Ngoc Diep, 1999) in " Ecotourism is a with environmental with participation Ba Thanh, (1999) has another point of view He defines "Ecotourism includes interesting tours to acquire more knowledge of history, customs, culture of the places where tourists come to visit" If Ba Thanh payso much attention to the benefits tourists would get from the tour, Nguyen Tai Cung (1998) particularly considers benefits for all tourists, the locality and environment To him, ecotourism is the ~ecial sense of tourists to natural environment type of tour that consists of awareness, It reaches ecological potential in order to improve the region's natural regions with greatly economy, social affair, health as well And it gives chances for tourists to discover and enjoy new, exotic, beautiful things as well as the purity of natural world This kind of tour also creates a good link among human being, nature, and environment preserve the diversified Besides, it is responsible to sustain and nature that will create interests back to human beings in the present and future as well The most accepted one could be from Annalisa, K (1998) It is " Ecotourism is , ~r c,.;+eJ,' rv' ? I 'fI distinguished from other kinds of tour about the level of education of awareness to the environment and ecology; and it's operated by skilled tour guides Ecotourism consists of major dual effects between people and nature It aims to alter tourists into pioneers in protecting the environment Furthermore, developing Ecotourism can minimize the negative impacts from tourism development on the ecology and the culture Helping the local achieve financial benefits generated from this kind of travel is really crucial In addition, it's important to save a big deal of money to conserve the nature 59 4.1 Developing EcotourismPotential 4.1.1 Environment Preservation Preservation of the natural resources is the first priority in developing ecotourism For the purpose, special attention should be paid to the three following factors: • Consumer awareness: Ecotourism is one of the major manifestations of environment concern by the general public, particularly in developing countries Although the average consumer has been sensitized to environmental issues, such as global warning, depletion of the ozone layer, air pollution, health and sanitation problems, they need an awareness of the tourist responsibility to preserve and enhance environmental quality of destinations It is essential to promote ethnic standards concerning natural and cultural resources and to assist consumers Interpretation in choosing tour operators who follow conservation programs need to focus on pre-trip preparation, guidelines on site educational programs at destinations, and follow through activities supporting ecotourism principles • Local awareness: Local people need to be educated about preserving environment For example, at Phung Hiep, Cai Rang, Cai Be floating markets, the sellers are asked not to throw rubbish into rivers These issues will be discussed in the coming parts 60 • Tourism industry actions: The tourism sector is, responsible for delivering products and services to the tourists It must take responsibility for the protection of the natural resources The necessary should consist of minimizing pollution, which causes environmental damages and sustains the use of resources such as land, water ; reducing disposing of waste via recycling; effective sewage treatment and waste disposal; minimizing environmental and health risks The regional industry needs to develop standard codes of conducting and disseminating accurate and reliable information to all parties involved in tourism It should also work together to develop guidelines for resort development, for advanced technologies for recycling and conserve resources To bird watching spots as Bang Lang, Tam Nong bird sanctuaries, the industry should research regulations for example on permitted distance, Each provincial and set out industry should contribute to a preservation and development fund 4.1.1 Unique Traditional Cultural Preservation In context of ecotourism definition, culture promises a significant attraction in the industry practice, This part will briefly discuss on preservation of unique traditional features in the region As discussed in the previous chapter, life-styles as well as behavior are changing in a negative trend Local people become more trade oriented in dealing with tourists Consequently, they are unlikely hospitable as before In order to prevent the problem, d l 61 tourism sector and related organizations should help them realize the value of hospitality or what benefits they would get they remain the hospitable character Keeping unique life-style of the southwest also implies the preservation longlasting traditional images The previous chapter mentioned the soon-to-be disappearance of bamboo bridges, ferries and wooden boats, etc In stead of replacing the "monkey bridge" by concrete constructions, the locality in the area should preserve them as typical uniqueness of the region As cited before, floating markets, some in Can Tho province, would not exist nor appeal to tourists any longer when transportation developed To preserve its attractiveness, on land becomes conveniently the tourism industry may deduct some of their profit to fund selected sellers, who are willing to take part in guiding tourists They, for example, would enjoy paying free, or receive incentives in purchasing boats and related equipment It is essential to sustain traditions and custom of ethnic groups, especially in An Giang province Dramatizing their life style and traditional custom would interest tourists who look for exotic cultures Some writers have highlighted the importance of these aspects, a book titled" Van Hoa Cac Dan Toc Thieu So Viet Nam" (Cultures of ethnic Minority in Vietnam) is an example They stated that" in order to conserve and enhance the value of national culture, it needs to build museums, cultural villages, tourist spots, and so on Traditional festivals and exhibition on culture as well as cross-cultural exchanging _ should be J ~- 62 hosted Moreover, in collaboration with local economic development, we have to create suitable living condition for every clan both natural and humanistic value such as mountain, and traditional forest, river, fall, cultivation behavior Particularly, maintaining ground, community relation and promoting ethnic languages play an important role as a means to transmit cultural value to next generations (Ngo Van Le, Nguyen Van Tiep, Nguyen Van Dieu, 1997) 4.2 Improving Capacity of Tourist Servers Training tourist staff is badly needed in the region Staffs who not meet jobs requirement, province should be sent for professional Tourism management courses by tourist business in each should also take special care of local employment, since they have background on tourist attractions of the areas In fact, they only need professional skill training, and foreign languages in some cases Particularly, students coming from the region studying tourism would present a potential labor force Due to ecotourism in the region still infancy period, so the core matter directly relates to the knowledge and tourist training of sustainable ecotourism development schools have not developed suitable So far, universities courses, curriculum and methods for the sector That may lead to unqualified tourist guides involved in future ecotourism development , d 63 4.3 Extending Internal Cooperation 4.3.1 Cooperation from local residents ~uN,{t~7 Previous part of this chapter has discussed the significant role of local inhabitants On the other hand, present situation of ecotourism exploitation indicates the low level of local participation to the industry Therefor, there should be a link between tourism industry and local people organized in a way of regular meeting, for example to discuss betterment management This kind of relation would encourage people involved in tourism to exchange ideas with others In other words, the local would express their own ideas to tourism activities, while tourism officials take this occasion for popularizing policies or conveying other requirement ~ f~~h, 4.3.2 to develop ecotounism Cooperation from other parties In general, ecotourism is made of from such elements accommodation, entertainment, transportation, as food and beverage, and other services All these elements must work closely together In particular, each element should be built on principles of ecotourism development For example, food and beverages in each province should create and develop its local unique dishes, drinks and other kinds of specialties to attract tourists Accommodation Nevertheless, must a controlling be available to meet demand of lodging plan should be mapped out to avoid over building and incompatible problems Instead of building western-style modem entertainment tourist hotels, deluxe restaurants and facilities, which are costly and harmful to ecotourist landscape, 64 the locality should employ traditional styles using such materials as bamboo and coconut trees Entertainment activities, especially those at night are really needed in the area Tourist businesses should offer diversified types of suitable entertainment, organizing contest of "monkey bridge" for instance, crossing, night fishing, frog or Cum Num catching in rainy season in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces At present, almost tourist companies offer Tai Tu music performance, honey tea and the like in daytime The activities may become more interesting, if tourists enjoy these at night on boat sailing more, along improvement, the Mekong River Further of transportation needs too Authorities in the area should monitor the noise, smoke limit of those vehicles for guests' convenience In cooperation and for being unharmful to environment with concerned should take instant actions to prevent prostitution, means bodies and parties, and eliminate and other disturbing behavior tourist spot where people local security authorities such social evils as beggar, Sam Mountain area should be a pilgrim can enjoy peacefulness, not dissatisfaction Tam Nong Reserve and some other bird sanctuaries will not accept any hunter 4.4 Expanding External Cooperation 4.4.1 From other regions The tourism industry in the region can only succeed in practicing ecotourism if it can broaden relationship with neighboring regions 65 Firstly, to the west of An Giang, Can Tho, Kien Giang and specifically Ha Tien center, will be a good destination alter visiting some tourist spots in Chau Doc district Many companies Meantime, have exploited tours include this tour, but they almost stop in Ha Tien town Phu Quoc destination are still limited Designing tours comprise visiting alluvial soil and salted water (along the coast from Can Gio district in Ho Chi Minh city through Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang up to Bac Lieu and Ca Mau area) to attract more travelers to the local natural resources Secondly, to the North of this region, Ho Chi Minh City plays an extremely important role The city can assist the Delta to develop many aspects The obvious one is to introduce tourists to the Delta More importantly, HCM City can cooperate with the region for investment, Furthermore, professional exchange, and humcrrt resource development Can Gio Park can be a typical ecotourism site Getting back to Ca Mau and Bac Lieu present exploitation, we will see a lack of cooperation The two provinces with lots of large bird sanctuaries, diversity of ecology in U Minh forest, but just a few visitors come there every year Therefore, or a kind of close cooperation should be considered an emergent for the whole region to better employ the existing resources 4.4.2 From other countries Although countries around Mekong River have come to a better and better relation in terms of tourism development, tour cooperated it seems not very effective There is not any on the river Improving this situation requires Tourism Administration , -_ -I _- 66 of all the countries must work closely together They should table more discussion to set appropriate policies for connecting tours from country to others In addition, if this become true, Vietnam experience 4.5 tourism will have opportunities to ecotourism from those nations, especially from Thailand Planning Tourist Destinations For the purpose of sustaining unique features of the region, it is necessary reserve an island for ecotourism activities On the island, tourism management to should not build any concrete facilities Hotels and restaurants must be specially designed and decorated in unique features of tradition locality (materials taken from such things as coconut trees, the roofs made by leaves of water coconuts ), bridges take styles of bamboo or coconut trees and so on Local people are discouraged to use motorbikes on the island Particularly, two nights a month the island will be set off electricity (one at moon time, the other about 15 days later) People should return to oil lamps for nightlife activities And tours to such island should start late at noon, by boat from nearby centers Tourists will spend nighttime on the island If walking around at night, torch should be used for lighting The plan encourages local residents to engage in all aspects of ecotourism activities I In return, they will receive a profit share generated from the tourist , 67 4.6 Establishing" Tourist Association of the Mekong Delta" If being established, the organization can control the whole regional tourism It will work out general policies for all tourist businesses including both private and staterun on~s This will help prevent problems of operating overlapped practices It also represents tours or of unfair the region to call for investment and business cooperation Besides, the association should be in charge of monitoring and training tourist staff, also creating tourist companies' awareness on environrpental and cultural preservation It will evaluate quality of services offered to visitors For further objective, it will be more active in engaging in regional and world travel organizations such as PATA, WTO, Ecotourism Society For better 'promotion, the organization can publicize a tnivel journal for the regIOn or at least can appear regularly in such printed media as Vietnam Magazine, Weekly Tourism Newspaper, Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Tourism Magazine Materials in foreign languages are also necessary In general, this organization is involved in the following tasks: • Researching into the environmental, development • economic and cultural effects of tourism in the region Supporting the development of tourism economic models to help define appropriate levels and types of economic activities for the area • Developing standards and regulations for environmental and cultural impact ~ assessments, monitoring and auditing of existing businesses ••• 68 • Applying a regional environmental accounting for the tourism industry • Educating the public on the issues of sustainable tourism development • Setting design and construction standards to ensure those projects are in harmony with local culture and natural environments • Ensuring that resource carrying capacities are not over stretched- a basic tenet of sustainable development • Regulating and controlling tourism in environmentally and culturally sensitive areas • Including tourism in land- use planning • Ensuring that all ministries involved in tourism underwrite the concept of sustainable development and collaboration in this regard • Seeking local support for appropriate sustainable tourism development as well as focusing opposition to inappropriate development • Promoting education of the public on the economic importance of sustainable tourism development, the need for a secure resource base (e.g., natural landscape), appropriate behavior related to sustainable tourism on the part of government, industry and tourists 69 CONCLUSION Ecotourism has become one of the most rapid growing sectors in general tourism and brought great benefits to involved segments, but it also causes serious problems accordingly, which are especially harmful to underdeveloped gluntries The Mekong Delta, a southernmost region of Vietnam, promises good conditions for ecotomism development thanks to its particul,!r features Especially, the alluvial soil and fresh water can offer tourists a wonderful destination consisting of a huge river system, various kinds of tropical fruit, rich culture and diversified nature, particularly the "Rural Civilization" The region, on the one side, has not achieved a correlated development from those potentials Besides, some difficulties have appeared as a result of from lack of experience in ecotourism field Therefore, it is vital to work out suitable strategies as well as policies to sustain the development while preserving the regional culture, nature That requires much efforts and effective among members of the five provinces in the Delta region, with other regions and neighboring countries That will help exchange valuable experiences on how to effectively manage the ecotourism planning and development In that sense, the region in individual and the Mekong Delta as a whole will successfully boost up ecotourism to contribute to development of the nation 70 t ~e"erences Books: Bau Ngon, (1999) Du lich ba ~ien: Ba't phuong Nam Tre Publisher ; Ceballos-Lascurain, Hector, (1987) The Future of Ecotourism Mexico 'I Ecotourism Society, (1992).1 Definition and Ecotourism Statistical Fact Sheet Ecotourism Society: ~lexandria, VA Foster, L F, (1995) An introduction to travel and tourism (2nd ed.) 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