SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN VIETNAM: CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE CHALLENGES Mã Xuân Vinh PhD Student in Management of Malaysia University of Science and Technology Lecturer at School of Tourism and Hospitality, HCM City University of Foreign Languages – Information Technology (HUFLIT), Vietnam Contact: (0084)962 0144 36/ 918 789156 maxuanvinh@gmail.com Abstract: As many countries increase their efforts to develop tourism in order to boost their economy and to attain development, the concept of sustainable tourism has become a major issue as well as an important asset on which these countries have to build on to reach their goal Since Đổi Mới (Economic Reforms -1986), tourism became an important sector of Vietnamese economy The number of international tourists increased around 15% every year and with 6.6% of GDP in 2016 In this highly dynamic sector, ecotourism and sustainable tourism are still new activities In recent years, ecotourism and sustainable tourism are still theoretical concepts in Vietnam Divergences between words and practices are still recurrent Social, ecological and economical sustainability often have conflicting goals, and sustainable tourism is still considered a niche phenomenon This paper intends to analyze the perception of sustainable tourism in a global perspective In the specific context of development process in Vietnam, we will try to understand what can be the future of sustainable tourism How should destinations and tour operators act in order to utilize the opportunities of a future form of tourism which successfully combines sustainability and profitability requirements with the customers’ interests? Keywords: ecotourism, sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, Vietnam tourism Introduction The travel and tourism industry is currently one of the largest industries in the world A number of domestic and international tourists are steadily increasing and many countries are now seeking to develop tourism for its many benefits Tourism is becoming one of the most important social and economic activities in Vietnam today The importance of tourism development in Vietnam since the 2000s, the number of foreign tourists increased around 15.6% per year Vietnam ranked 75th out of 141 countries in the WEF’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2015’s report Moreover, the Vietnam government has considered tourism as a key economic sector of the country in 2017 There is no doubt that tourism sector has become one of the major contributors to development and is an agent of change for many parts of the world The strengths of tourism are described in various forms; as a tool in economic and physical development and as a means to enhance the social and human capital development and conservation of natural environment (Graci, S and R Dodds, 2010) However, the development of overloaded tourism also brings with it serious long-term problems which, without careful control and planning, can threaten the society Therefore, the problem for the tourism industry in Vietnam today is to develop sustainable tourism In this light, the relevant stakeholders in tourism development must be educated and aware about the tourism planning and organization involved (Okazaki, 2008) Sustainable Tourism and the Perspective on Sustainable Tourism Development in Vietnam The term “sustainable tourism” has not yet become a term for tourism marketing in Vietnam The first perception was a state of great confusion in the names “ecotourism” and “sustainable tourism” It is necessary to map out these terms, and to compare them with international definitions and standards to understand what they mean in Vietnam In the Tourism law valid from st of January 2006, the Vietnam Parliament announced the first official definition of “ecotourism” as: “Ecotourism is one form of tourism based on nature, closely related with local culture, with the community participation to develop sustainability (Vietnam Parliament, 2005:3)” And, the new Tourism law valid from st of January 2018 said “Ecotourism is one form of tourism based on nature, associated with local cultural, with the participation of the community, combining education on environmental protection (Vietnam Parliament, 2017:2)” These definitions are only explanation for certain terms that refer to the tourism phenomenon that exists in Vietnam These laws did not include any clear ideas on how ecotourism should be operated or principles to manage these new types of tourism Since the early 2000s, the term “ecological” and its derivative “ecological tourism” or “ecotourism” are displayed throughout Vietnam This confusion is negative for the image of the quality of tourism in Vietnam Especially, foreign tourists who are better informed and more sensitive to ecotourism than most Vietnamese tourists are often disappointed about the fake ecotourism in Vietnam Moreover, Viet Nam has no sustainable tourism concept in the new law, while the United Nations has designated 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development “Sustainable tourism should also maintain a high level of tourist satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience to the tourist, raising their awareness about sustainability issues and promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them” (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005) “Sustainable tourism should: -Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity -Respect the social-culture authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance -Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation” (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005) Sustainable development not only focuses on environmental protection but also contributes to preserving indigenous culture, ensuring economic development, and bringing about equitable benefits for the participants However, Vietnam is a participant in global agendas on sustainable development The tourism development strategy of Vietnam in the period of 2011-2020 and the vision of 2030 approved by Prime Minister all have the viewpoint of sustainable tourism development These include: tourism development becoming the main economic sector; develop sustainable tourism with the preservation and promotion of national cultural values, the preservation of the landscape, the protection of the environment, the maintenance of national security as well as social safety On January 16, 2017, the Politburo issued the Resolution 08-NQ / TW on tourism development to become a key economic sector This is a milestone in the history of tourism development in Vietnam It is also a challenge for a developing country such as Vietnam to develop and define its own concept of sustainable tourism based on the local situation and uniqueness of tourism resources Situation of sustainable tourism development in Vietnam Vietnam tourism is one of the highlights of the economy, with high growth rates and continuous, constantly expanding in size According to statistics by Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2015, tourism contributed some 6.6 percent to the national GDP, creating 2.25 million jobs Vietnam earned nearly 338 trillion Vietnamese Đồng (over 15 billion U.S dollars) from tourism in 2015 Total international arrivals in 2016 reached 10,012,735 arrivals, increase 26.0% over the same period in 2015 and Vietnam earned nearly 400 trillion VND from tourism (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2016) However, the efficiency of tourism activities is not commensurate with the potential and inherent resources, competitiveness is limited, and the sustainability of the tourist destination is threatened State management of tourism are constantly being enhanced but have not met the goal of sustainable tourism development In addition, the trend to change the demand of tourists is also a challenge to the development of sustainable tourism in Vietnam Roxana Valentina Gârbea (2014) also point out that the criteria that evaluate tourism attractiveness have changed gradually, the interest in particularities of tourism supply gradually being replaced by research on the perceptions and motivations of tourists Tourists are more experienced and oriented towards practical values as well as being aware of the impact of travel behavior on the environment and society Environmental quality becomes an important factor contributing to the value of tourism This is a great challenge in terms of perspective, perception and professional qualification for Vietnamese tourism If Vietnam's tourism industry does not catch up with this trend, it will face the risk of lagging, losing market share in the increasingly competitive between destinations in the region and the world Moreover, the issue of environment and climate change is one of the major challenges for sustainable tourism development in Vietnam The ecological environment of many tourist destinations in Vietnam is considered relatively pristine and of high biodiversity However in recent years, due to the impact of industrialization, development deficient planning, lack of vision, so the quality of environment in Vietnam has declined to alarming levels Most recently, the Taiwanese steel Company Formosa has released toxic substances to the sea and polluted the marine environment in the central provinces (Việt Nam News, 2017) Figure 1: Green Lotus Label logo (Source: ESRT) On the other hand, from 2012, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has issued the criterion of recognizing the “Green Lotus Label” for the tourist accommodations in Vietnam with the ultimate goal of sustainable tourism development (Decision No.1355/QĐ-BVHTTDL, 12 April 2012) The Green Lotus Label has grades, from to green lotuses Criteria include sustainable management; maximizing the economic and social benefits of local communities; Minimizing negative impacts on cultural heritage, natural heritage; minimize the negative impact on the environment The duration of the Green Lotus Green Tourism label is years (Vietnam Hotel Association, 2013) The number of green lotus on the label describes the effort in environmental protection and the contribution to sustainable development of the tourism accommodation service providers The Green Lotus Label is independent from the rate of quality (Tourism Quality Star) which is recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism which has already applied (UNEP 2015:23-24) Table 1: Number of tourist accommodation establishments 3-5 stars (2013-2016) Total 5-star 4-star Year No of No of No of Acc rooms Acc No of No of No of rooms Acc rooms 2013 2014 2015 2016 15,385 17,659 24,212 30,624 598 640 747 784 62,002 66,728 82,325 91,250 64 72 91 107 159 187 215 230 20,270 22,569 27,379 29,387 3-star No of Acc No of rooms 375 381 441 442 26,347 26,500 30,734 30,902 (Source: Data compiled by TITC from Hotel Department (VNAT) and Departments of Tourism and Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism) By 2016, Vietnam includes 784 hotels of 3-5 stars; in 2015 only 4.2% (33 hotels and resorts) have obtained the Green Lotus Label In the North region, labeled hotels all located in the city of Hà Nội In the Central region, 19 hotels of which 50% are in the city and 50% are resorts In the South, 10 hotels all located in the city More than 70% of hotels are located in urban areas and in major cities Hồ Chí Minh City, Đà Nẳng and Hà Nội Especially, there is no facilities in the Mekong Delta have receive the labels (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2015, 2016) In Vietnam, tourist companies not yet use the term Sustainable tourism but the term “ecotourism” is present almost everywhere without meaning of real “Eco – tourism” There is no certification or label relating to ecotourism qualities for hotels, resorts and guest houses below stars In some cases, international NGOs set the normative framework for ecotourism applied to a small population group and a very limited geographical area, often in the national park In the specific case of Tà Lài commune, despite a strong technical, financial, regulatory and training from international NGOs such as WWF and local authorities, the results are very modest and local ecotourism criteria are not reached yet “In brief, the current practice of community – based Ecotourism framework in the Tà Lài commune, Nam Cát Tiên National Park is unsustainable, (…) It is believed that if they increase stakeholder engagement with continuous program monitoring and evaluations Ecotourism management in the case study will be able to be improve in a well – supported environment and in a sustainable manner well into the future (Fund and Hitchock, 2000)” (Dương, 2015) Some solutions for sustainable tourism development in Vietnam In view these findings, it is necessary to wonder about the future of ecotourism and sustainable tourism in Vietnam In the challenges of globalization and international integration, the tourism industry in Vietnam clearly identifies the viewpoint of tourism development in depth, professionalism, quality and effectiveness To develop sustainable tourism, Vietnam needs to implement the following basic solutions: Firstly, it is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of communication activities, aiming at raising the awareness of society about the position of sustainable tourism in socio-economic development It would be necessary to build an appropriate and effective standard through laws It is important to popularize sustainable tourism practices, such as applying green lotus labels to more accommodations in each region of Vietnam Secondly, it should strengthen the policies and technical barriers to prevent imports into Vietnam technologies, goods and services that harm the environment; it should synchronously implement planning and investment solutions to actively respond to the impacts of environmental change, including the development of the tourism industry Thirdly, the growth of tourism in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is an advantage Tourists can push directly the touristic companies to change their practices by writing some comments on specialized social network (blogs, facebook, twitter, instagram,…) and evaluation websites as Trip Advisor The increase of tourism was very high in Vietnam between 1990 and 2016 but majority of the travel companies did not pay lot of attention to the tourist appreciation The offer of accommodation and services is already higher than the average demand for non-specialized tourist establishments (those below stars) so they must make important promotions to guarantee a minimum rate of filling in normal period Fourthly, Vietnam needs to promote the ideas of enterprises in developing sustainable tourism Vietnam should research and develop sustainable and responsible tourism practices for communities, stakeholders through the guidelines in two important documents: the ILO's "Toolkit for Poverty Reduction through Tourism" (World Labor Organization) and "Responsible tourism development toolkit" by ERST (Environmental and Social Tourism Responsibility Project) Finally, the term sustainable development has a resource dimension associated with the long-term use and development of the local countryside and local culture (Lars Aronsson, 2000) The role of the community is very important in sustainable tourism development; they are a part of creating attraction for tourists In fact, some people's misconceptions and misconduct have affected visitors such as high prices, theft, rough handling, tourist insistency, and so on It is necessary to prevent this problem Vietnam should strengthen community-based tourism education, offering educational content about cultural tourism in public schools, in all levels of training Consequentially, the tourists will become the promoters of the Vietnam tourism Conclusion Despites an enormous natural and cultural potential for tourism, Vietnam is still far behind the many other countries of the Southern Asia region in setting up a true sustainable tourism In Vietnam, the general level of environment awareness is still low The State has not yet taken sustainable tourism as development priorities, majority of Vietnamese tourism companies have not yet understood long-term relationship between economic and sustainable, responsible tourism Sustainable tourism is an indispensable development trend on a global, so most countries in the world are recognizing the importance of this trend in their development of tourism The demand for sustainable tourism development in Vietnam is urgent Therefore, policies and guidelines from the government need timely support Local authorities should promote their role as a guide for businesses and local communities in sustainable tourism The successful development of sustainable tourism can only be assured with the participation of the relevant members and the cooperation of the members in which the interests of each member should be taken into consideration References [1] Fund K P and Hitchcock R K .2000 “Step in the formation of community-based resource management institutions and legal bodies for conservation and development activities in Botswana” IUCN/SNV CBNRM Support Program [2] Graci, S and R Dodds 2010 Sustainable Tourism in Island Destinations London: Earthscan [3] Dương Thị Minh Phương 2015 “Barriers to Community Engagement in community based Ecotourism Framwork – A case study of Tà Lài Commune, Nam Cát Tiên National Park in Vietnam” The International Conference in Finance and Economic (ICFE), Tơn Đức Thắng University, Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam, June 4th-6th, 2015 [4] Lars Aronsson 2000 The development of sustainable tourism Continuum [5] Okazaki, E.2008 “A Community – Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use” Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(5): pp.511-529 [6] UNEP, 2015 “Assessment Report: Sustainable Public Procurement Status in Vietnam” Project “Stimulating the Demand and Supply of Sustainable Products through Sustainable Public Procurement and Ecolabelling” (Sppel) Hanoi, April 2015, 32 p [7] UNEP and UNWTO 2005 Making Tourism More Sustainable - A Guide for Policy Makers, p.11-12 [8] Valentina GÂRBEA 2014 Tourist Attractiveness of the Urban Environment in Moldavia Management & Marketing, volume XII, issue 1/2014 [9] Việt Nam News, Locals compensated for fish kill, October 20th, 2017 Websites: [10] http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php/items/10262, “Tourist accommodation establishments (2000 – 2015)”, March 18, 2016 [11] http://vietnamtourism.com/en/index.php/news/items/9594, “Green Lotus label to advance sustainable tourism development”, July 2015 [12] http://vietnamhotel.org.vn/vn/news/1960/313/Ha-Noi-cap-nhan-Bong-sen-xanh-cho-co-so-luu-tru.vha ... tourist, raising their awareness about sustainability issues and promoting sustainable tourism practices amongst them” (UNEP and UNWTO, 2005) Sustainable tourism should: -Make optimal use of... of Sustainable Tourism, 16(5): pp.511-529 [6] UNEP, 2015 “Assessment Report: Sustainable Public Procurement Status in Vietnam Project “Stimulating the Demand and Supply of Sustainable Products... sustainable tourism has not yet become a term for tourism marketing in Vietnam The first perception was a state of great confusion in the names “ecotourism” and sustainable tourism It is necessary