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Pro-Poor Tourism Development was the centre of a conference jointly organized by Vietnam, the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) and financed by the Asian Development Bank in Ninh Binh, Northern Vietnam.
NINH BINH- The meeting of the Tourism Working Group of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region in Ninh Binh in Northern Vietnam was an opportunity for the six countries members of the GMS (Cambodia, China PRC, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam) to share and exchange knowledge as well as lessons learned from pro-poor tourism policies in the region.
The two-day conference was hosted in the Emeralda Resort, the only-five star hotel of Ninh Binh, a province made of stunning landscapes with rice fields, mountains, hills and wetlands. Ninh Binh remains a mostly rural region located at the southern tip of the Red River Delta, some 90 km south of Hanoi.
Ninh Binh has a population of almost a million inhabitants. It has been designated as a tourist development area by the Vietnamese Government with its wetlands, lakes and rivers dominated by hills and limestone. Delegates of the GMS Tourism Working Group had the opportunity to visit the site of Trang An designated as a Natural and Cultural Tourism Complex with its limestone caves and its wetland stretching over 2,168 hectares. Trang An and its unique ecosystem has been proposed by the Government to be turned into a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.
The conference was attended by over 70 delegates and participants from various institutions and NGO. The Conference was chaired by Mrs. Hoang Thi Diep, Vice Chairperson of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). Among participants was Mr. Tith Chantha, Director General of Tourism at the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism, Martin Craigs, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) as well as Mason Florence, Director of the MTCO.
In her opening speech, Mrs. Hoang indicated that poverty reduction in Viet Nam has achieved important results with the ration of poor households decreasing nationwide from 22% in 2005 to 9.45% in 2010. And to further reduce poverty in the country, “it is necessary to have the participation and concerted efforts from different industries and sectors including tourism,” she declared.
“In late 2011, the Prime Minister of Vietnam has approved the Tourism Development Strategy of Vietnam until 2020 and vision for 2030. One important component of this Strategy is to set up and implement the Project of Community-based tourism development with poverty reduction and economic restructuring in rural areas,” added Mrs Hoang.
In his opening remarks, Steven Schipani, Social Sector Specialist of Southeast Asia Department, Asian Development Bank (ADB) acknowledged the successful path taken by the Greater Mekong Sub-region to develop tourism.
GMS six countries are likely to welcome in 2012 over 45 million international travellers, compared to 32 million in 2010 and 38 million last year. “GMS countries have done great to attract more international visitors, but tourism tends to concentrate to a few destinations. We now need to do better by integrating more secondary destinations in tourism strategies. It will then help to spread tourism benefits to a larger population and further reduce inequalities,” explained Mr. Schipani.
ADB and the MCTO recently unveiled new multi-country thematic routes, identifying six itineraries along the six GMS member countries. ADB is now working for 2013 on its new “Next Generation Tourism for the GMS”. “We are looking at increasing our financial support with additional funds,” indicated Steven Schipani.
Examples of successful poverty reduction programs through tourism abound in the GMS, especially through Community-Based Tourism initiatives (CBT). Many programs in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam have helped to empower rural communities with tourism becoming a main source of revenues. Such CBT programs are now developed also in Myanmar following the country’s opening.
A next step in eradicating poverty in the Greater Mekong Sub-region is to foster more common policies and cooperation among the member states and continuing to share common knowledge and practices. Better cooperation among countries as well as common marketing initiatives have been on the agenda of the working group. More details will be revealed to the public in early 2013.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
