Ho Chi Minh City, 15 February 2006 — Delegates from over 20 countries began three days of meetings today in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss how smaller hotels and guest houses can contribute to sustainable tourism. Organizers of the seminar are the Mekong Private Sector Development Facility, a multi-donor initiative of the International Finance Corporation that promotes private sector development in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR, and Worldhotel-link.com (WHL), a Hong Kong-based company that sets up and supports internet portals that enable smaller hotels and guesthouses to market themselves over the Internet.
IFC-MPDF and Worldhotel-link define sustainable tourism as tourism that is sustainable economically, environmentally and socially. For a particular destination, this means protecting the natural environment, historic or cultural assets and/or contributing to the local community. Over the next three days, representatives from both organizations will explain why sustainable tourism is so important, provide worldwide examples, and introduce a sustainability rating system for hotels and guesthouses marketing through WHL web portals.
Delegates attending the meetings include operators of Worldhotel-link web portals in the Mekong Region, and from as far as away as the Caribbean, Macedonia and Samoa, as well as several respected tourism industry experts.
Kate Lloyd-Williams, Tourism Manager with IFC-MPDF, explained that tourism has great potential in developing countries as it is one of the fastest growing industries, and in many developing countries, the second largest employer, after agriculture.
“A glance at Vietnam’s tourism figures shows nearly three million international tourists in 2004, an increase of 20.5% over 2003. Revenue from tourism was US$1.6 billion in 2004, up from US$1.4 billion in 2003. The government’s tourism strategy predicts that by 2010, Vietnam will have between 6 and 6.5 million international visitors, 25 to 30 million domestic tourists, and total tourism earnings of US$4 to 4.5 billion.
But a rapidly growing tourism sector, states Lloyd-Williams, has negative as well as positive impacts, especially in developing countries. “On the plus side, tourism brings in foreign exchange and creates large numbers of jobs – many are in rural areas where employment opportunities are few, and they require little education or prior training. On the minus side, rapid unmanaged growth in tourism can be damaging.”
“In Siem Reap, Cambodia, where the world-famous Angkor Wat temples are located, the negative consequences of too rapid and unmanaged tourism are already apparent. Hotel rooms have mushroomed from 2,500 in 2002 to 5,000 today. By the end of this year, the city will have 8,000 rooms. Already there is not enough power to meet community needs, garbage disposal is inadequate, and the local river is polluted from untreated sewage. There are also concerns that water consumption is depleting the water table which could cause the ground below Angkor Wat, and the temples themselves, to collapse. These are serious issues and although there are some large projects in the planning stage such as a wastewater treatment plant, there is no local group advocating for sustainable growth."
Vietnam has a number of important historic, environmental and cultural assets that also need protection. These range from UNESCO world heritage sites in Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, My Son and Phong Nha National Park, to numerous islands, beaches, and grottoes, and unique ethnic minority cultures.
