On the morning of August 7th and 8th Agust, the Asian Institute for Management and Development - AMDI in collaboration with the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province and the Tourism Department of Thua Thien Hue province organized Technical Consultations on "Draft ecotourism strategy for Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces for the period of 2018-2022". This is one of the events of the Activity "Development of Regional Ecotourism Development Plan and Pilot Ecotourism Models for Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue Provinces" under the Green Annamites project funded by USAID.
Attending the workshops were representatives of the Departments of Tourism, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Planning, Finance and External Affairs, the provincial Green Annamites Project Management Board, the relevant People's Committee and the Nature Reserve, respective provincial Tourism Associations and a number of travel / tourism companies, as well as representatives from the main contractor ECODIT and AMDI tourism experts.
Mr. Vu The Binh - Standing Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, Chairman of Vietnam Travel Association, senior tourism expert of AMDI
At the consultations, Mr. Vu The Binh - Standing Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, Chairman of Vietnam Travel Association, senior tourism expert of AMDI presented the process of research, survey, drafting and basic content of the draft Strategy, which is to focus on the development of community-based ecotourism for the national parks and nature reserves in the West of Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces. Whereby to develop the orientations for eco-tourism at the chosen national parks and nature reserves in the area, and at the same time to develop community-based ecotourism in the villages or hamlets in the buffer zone or core zone to ensure sustainable development in terms of environment, socio-economy.
The Technical Consultations took place in a very lively atmosphere. The participants highly appreciated the efforts of the expert group in drafting the ecotourism strategy for two provinces and agreed on the structure and main content of the draft. Delegates' valuable comments will help the AMDI ecotourism team complete the draft in August 2015 to submit to ECODIT main contractor.
Speaking at the opening of the consultations, Mr. Ngo Cong Chinh, President of AMDI Institute, stressed: “Development of ecotourism should be associated associated with sustainable development, community development and creation of job opportunities for local people”
Mr. Ngo Cong Chinh, President of AMDI Institute, stressed
In his welcome speech, Mr. Le Ngoc Tuong, Deputy Director of Quang Nam Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: “The ecotourism in Quang Nam province is very potential with 80% of forest land and rural agriculture land. Especially, in the recent years, the ecotourism has played an important role in development of tourism in general. Therefore, we highly appreciate the important role of ecotourism in general development of tourism”.
Mr. Le Huu Minh, Acting Director of Thua Thien Hue Tourism Department, said: “ In the past, people in A Luoi district were vague about the type of tourism but now they clearly understand the important role of ecotourism in creating their income”.
In Conclusion, Mr. Vu The Binh - Standing Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, Chairman of Vietnam Travel Association said: “ I hope that related departments, agencies and tourism companies will coordinate with the project to develop the ecotourism models”.