(TITC) - On May 13, the workshop on proposed project "Reducing plastic waste in tourism in Vietnam" was held at the head office of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
The workshop on proposed project "Reducing plastic waste in tourism in Vietnam". Photo TITC
Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Lan, Standing Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) said: Plastic waste is becoming a global challenge, threatening many fields and directly affecting to sustainable development of the tourism industry.
Recognizing this problem, VITA has proposed to UNDP Vietnam to support the implementation of the project "Reducing plastic waste in tourism in Vietnam". UNDP Vietnam has approved the project's proposed funding through the Global Environment Fund. The project will be piloted in Hoi An (Quang Nam Province), in Trang An and Van Long tourist areas (Ninh Binh Province).
Mr. Ha Van Sieu, VNAT’s Vice Chairman affirmed that VNAT always accompanies and supports the project to implement in Vietnam. Recognizing the importance of the environment, in recent years, VNAT has paid attention to allow the implementation of many projects on environmentally responsible tourism, green tourism, ecotourism, and community tourism, etc.
After 2 years of the tourism industry being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the environmental factor to ensure the health of people and visitors is especially important. In addition, the development of the tourism industry has had a direct impact on the environmental landscape, in which tourists are both a driving force for development and a source of large amounts of waste, especially plastic waste. Therefore, it is necessary to build a model to reduce plastic waste in the tourism industry in order to spread and disseminate to localities, businesses, people and visitors.
Presenting the content of the draft project proposal, Dr. Nguyen Trung Thang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (under MONRE), a project consultant, said that the project's goal is to promote activities to reduce plastic waste in tourism, contributing to environmental protection and tourism development in order to achieve the sustainable development goals.
To achieve that goal, the draft project has proposed many activities to be implemented in 3 main components such as: (1) Communication to raise awareness about reducing plastic waste in tourism; (2) Piloting the application of solutions and initiatives to reduce plastic waste at some restaurants, hotels, tourist sites/areas in Ninh Binh and Quang Nam; (3) Support to develop the draft Action Plan on reducing plastic waste in tourism.
At the workshop, experts and delegates from departments and units of VNAT contributed many important ideas for VITA and the consulting unit to complete the project proposal.
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