Reducing plastic waste is essential for tourism development
Thua Thien - Hue is one of the key tourist destinations in Vietnam. It is expected to welcome about 4 million visitors in 2024. With such strong tourism growth, the possibility of plastic waste emissions, especially single-use plastics, affecting the natural environment during business activities in general and tourism - services in particular is predictable.
Realizing that reducing plastic waste is one of the necessary trends to develop tourism towards green and sustainable growth, recently, the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien - Hue province and the Office of the World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam (WWF-Vietnam) have implemented many activities within the framework of the project "Hue - Plastic-Reducing City in Central Vietnam" with the title: "Reducing plastic waste in the tourism industry of Thua Thien - Hue in the period of 2023-2025".
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc - Director of the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien - Hue province said that since the end of 2019, the Politburo has issued Resolution No. 54-NQ/TW on the construction and development of Thua Thien - Hue province to 2030, with a vision to 2045. In which, by 2025, Thua Thien - Hue will become a centrally-run city on the basis of preserving and promoting the value of the ancient capital's heritage and Hue's cultural identity with cultural, heritage, ecological, landscape, environmentally friendly and smart characteristics.
Therefore, the task of rapid and sustainable development towards green growth and green economy is a comprehensive and consistent development strategy that Thua Thien - Hue province is focusing on implementing in various fields, including tourism.
Businesses respond, tourists agree
According to the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien - Hue province, after a period of coordination, the project has achieved remarkable results. The Department of Tourism of Thua Thien - Hue province has coordinated to organize training courses for managers and staff of tourism businesses, services, hotels, travel companies and tourist attractions to raise awareness about plastic reduction.
Integrate propaganda and raise awareness of the harmful effects of plastic waste through knowledge update courses for domestic and international tour guides. The Community Tourism Association under the Tourism Association coordinates training for managers and business owners at community tourism sites and cultural tourism sites.
Through training courses, service and tourism businesses have signed a commitment to reduce plastic waste and made plans to implement it at their units.
In addition to propaganda work, Hue tourism industry also focuses on developing and operating tours and tourist destinations that do not use disposable plastic products. Promoting tourist destinations that reduce plastic waste. As of September 2024, 4 tours to reduce plastic waste have been established and operated in the area.
Luong Quan - Nguyet Bieu (Thuy Bieu ward, Hue city) is the first tourist destination in Hue city to pilot the model of "tourist destination reducing plastic waste" and is being maintained very effectively. In recent times, individuals, households and travel agencies in Luong Quan - Nguyet Bieu have been trained in depth on reducing plastic waste in business activities and serving tourists. Up to now, 16 community facilities here have participated and implemented plastic reduction solutions.
According to business households, if in the past, each tour visiting, experiencing, and staying at Luong Quan - Nguyet Bieu was provided with bottled drinking water. The items used to book accommodation were all disposable plastic items and many types of disposable plastics generated during the service provision process, these have now been replaced by environmentally friendly products.
Mr. Tran Quang Hao - Director of Huetourist shared: "In fact, after being informed about the impact of plastic waste on the environment, human health, the image of the destination, and the quality of the vacation, those who make a living and benefit from the Luong Quan - Nguyet Bieu tourist destination have gradually changed their awareness and responded positively.
Many tourists after using the services also agree and support the solutions to reduce plastic waste to protect the environment that this tourist destination is implementing.
