The project "Switzerland Tourism for Sustainable Development in Vietnam" (ST4SD) has officially launched.
The ST4SD project will be implemented in 4 years from 2024 to 2027 in 3 main localities representing the three North-South regions: Ha Giang, Quang Nam, Dong Thap, and can be expanded further in Hue, Can Tho and Hanoi.
The project consists of three parts: Part one will strengthen the public-private dialogue mechanism at the national, regional and provincial levels; build a set of Vietnam tourism development indexes to increase competitiveness.
The second part provides a high-quality training program, aiming to develop skills and expertise for human resources in the tourism and hospitality sector.
The third part is to support destinations with ideas for sustainable tourism development as well as raise businesses' awareness of sustainability standards.
Swiss Ambassador Thomas Gass announced that the Swiss Government has committed to funding without refunding 3.6 million CHF (about more than 101 billion VND) from OAD capital to implement the project.
Ambassador Thomas Gass hopes that sharing Switzerland's expertise and long-term experience in tourism training, restaurants and hotels will help the Vietnamese tourism industry continue to develop sustainably and achieve high quality.
The Swiss EHT program will equip leaders and future managers of this industry in Vietnam with useful tools, helping them bring excellent services while ensuring sustainability commitments.
Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh hopes that the ST4SD project will be an important driving force to contribute to improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism industry through the key goal of supporting the development of sustainable tourism policies at both the central and local levels; improving the quality of tourism - hotel training and supporting destinations and businesses in investing and practicing sustainable tourism.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong said that over the past 30 years, Switzerland has provided Vietnam with about 500 million USD without refunds for sustainable development.
"The project is technical in nature, so this is a large amount of money, meaningful in the current development of Vietnam's tourism," Deputy Minister Ho An Phong emphasized that the project is being implemented in the context that the whole country is taking advantage of the opportunity, entering a new era.
The Deputy Minister hopes that the ST4SD project will not only stop in 3 provinces, in the future, this model will be expanded, creating a strong spread to other localities.
Connecting from the provincial and district levels to the grassroots, businesses, and communities of destinations will help improve project implementation efficiency, ensure sustainable tourism is truly put into life and brings practical benefits to the locality.
