Seminar on Sustainable Area Management Using Tourism in Ninh Binh Province

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Katsuhisa Ishizaki - Deputy Director of UNWTO RSOAP said, recently, "sustainable tourism" has been a buzzword and has become a trending topic. According to Mr. Katsuhisa Ishizaki, not every relevant party in the field of tourism is following the right approach and path to achieve "sustainable tourism". Instead, there are many destinations that face difficulties in managing and developing tourism.

Therefore, in order to navigate the balance among local economic, cultural/social and environmental, UNWTO RSOAP developed the Handbook "A Practical Guide to Sustainable Area Management Using Tourism" in 2022 with the Japan Transport and Tourism Research Institute (JTTRI) and began to apply the methods in the manual to some localities and cities in Japan. This year, UNWTO RSOAP will gradually build up and adjust the Handbook to suit the current situation in Vietnam.

VNAT's Vice Chairman Mr. Ha Van Sieu said that the UNWTO is an important partner of Vietnam's tourism. VNAT successfully organized a similar workshop in Binh Thuan earlier this year. Vice Chairman was delighted that UNWTO had continued to organize the seminar in Ninh Binh, a world cultural and natural heritage destination, especially at the most beautiful time of the year.

After two years of being negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam's tourism has officially reopened from March 15, 2022. Since then, tourism sector saw a remarkable recovery in the number of international visitors and especially the domestic tourist trips has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

In addition to difficulties from the competition of other destinations, Vietnam's tourism also faces challenges and requires innovation when many trends emerge after COVID-19. These are the higher demand of visitors for green tourism, eco-tourism, healthcare tourism, information technology application in tourism development... These changes require that destinations and tourism businesses need to promptly research, form and offer high-quality products and services, develop tourism efficiency while ensuring friendliness and sustainability for the environment.

With its strengths in cultural values - diverse and rich heritage, beautiful natural scenery, especially tourism industry, the seminar discusses and analyzes opportunities and challenges for the tourism industry in province, thereby proposing solutions to develop tourism to truly become a driving force for sustainable development in Ninh Binh.

"We hope Ninh Binh will grow the number of visitors and attract more tourism investment while ensuring the harmony between tourism activities and protection of the environment and natural resources, preserving and promoting heritage and history - culture values," Mr. Ha Van Sieu said.

At the seminar, UNWTO RSOAP introduced the Handbook "A Practical Guide to Sustainable Area Management Using Tourism" and some best practice in Japan.

In addition, the seminar also received many opinions and shares from local management agencies, the Management Board of tourist attractions, associations, travel and hospitality businesses on the situation of tourism development of Ninh Binh, the challenges posed in the coming time and proposed solutions to develop tourism in a sustainable way.

Tourism Information Technology Center/International Cooperation Department