Nguyen Phuong Anh, deputy head of the department, told the Daily that the department had completed 82 criteria those hotels need to meet for recognition. After the Lunar New Year holiday, the department will send the criteria to hotels for feedback and then the pilot activities will begin in the following months.
“We will make the pilot activity for some of the three-to five-star hotels in Hanoi first and then expand it to other localities,” Anh said.
She said the criteria would help hotels develop as environmentally friendly and sustainable. Along with protecting the environment, the criteria will include minimizing the impacts of hotel operations on society and heritage sites and encourage hotels to use local human resources.
“We’ve included the Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism Criteria. We want to develop the system of environmentally friendly and sustainable hotels in line with the development trend of the hospitality sector to raise the competitiveness of hotels in Vietnam,” Anh said.
The program was approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the aim to promote Vietnam as a destination for tourists.
Anh said the department expected to give the tag to hotels that complete the pilot activity, and then expand the program to other hotels across the country in 2012. The department will send experts to help hotels carry out the program.
“Hotels can join the program if they want. It’s not compulsory. However, we will carry out more activities to promote hotels with the Sustainable Brand tag,” Anh said.
She said the department would promote such hotels on the website of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and on related websites about the green environment of international organizations as well as join the international green hotel system.
According to the administration, the country has around 10,900 tourist accommodations with 215,000 rooms, including around 184 three-star standard accommodations of nearly 13,200 rooms, 95 four-star standard accommodations of nearly 11,630 rooms and 35 five-star standard accommodations of over 8,800 rooms.