In September 2023, Silk Sense Hoi An River Resort officially announced that it is a resort free of plastic waste and single-use plastic items.

This reality requires Vietnam's smokeless industry to make strategies and solutions to develop green tourism, meeting the change in tourists’ needs after the pandemic.

Over the past years, Vietnamese tourism has made great strides in both the number of visitors and revenues of the international and domestic markets. However, the strong growth of tourism is causing significant pressure on the landscape and culture, especially in destinations with "hot" development.

With the characteristic of exploiting mainly based on available natural and human resources, tourism wants to become a key economic sector of the country. Therefore, there is no other way but to develop in a green manner and be responsible to the environment and society.

This is also the "key" to sustainable tourism development. According to the European Commission's Report tourist consumption behaviour conducted in 2020, up to 82% of the European Union (EU) population said they could change their habits to ensure the sustainability of tourism, 48% are willing to reduce waste when travelling, even accepting to pay extra fees to protect the natural environment (35%) and 33% or to benefit local communities (33%).

A sociological survey report on the international tourists’ readiness in sustainable tourism development was conducted for tourism businesses by the research team of the Institute of Tourism Development Research under the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) also shows 76% of participants are willing to reduce waste during vacation, 62% are willing to consume local products 45% are willing to use vehicles that has little impact on the environment, 45% choose time off outside of peak season, 38% are willing to support local communities, 31% are willing to choose a less popular destination and 28% choose to reduce water use during vacation.

More and more international tourists are interested in and choosing outdoor tourism activities in Vietnam such as walking, climbing and swimming so that they can both enjoy nature and improve their health, contributing to reducing harmful impacts on natural resources.

In fact, the trend of green and sustainable consumption is not only popular among the international tourist community but is gradually becoming a habit of Vietnamese tourists. According to a survey by the Booking.com platform, up to 88% of domestic tourists said the COVID-19 pandemic motivated them to travel in a sustainable way.

All mark a positive step forward in forming the green tourism trend in Vietnam, bringing benefits to the environment and human health, while helping the tourism industry develop in a sustainable manner and creating better and more immersive experiences for both travelers and destinations.

In recent years, green tourism has received greater attention and become an important development direction for many countries around the world. “Green tourism and investment” was chosen as the theme of World Tourism Day 2023, emphasising the need to increase investment in green tourism towards sustainable development. In Vietnam, anticipating this trend, many localities and destinations have pioneered the development of green tourism.

Although they tend to spend more economically, tourists are willing to spend more to reduce harmful effects on nature and local cultural heritage. Not only looking for nature-friendly tours, tourists also participate in environmental protection activities at the destinations and support sustainable tourism projects.

A typical example is Hoi An (Quang Nam), a destination that has very early called on the community and tourists to limit the use of single-use plastic items. In September 2023, Hoi An officially launched the model of “Hotel without plastic waste”. The city strives to reduce plastic waste by 13-15% each year, aiming to no longer generate single-use plastic waste by 2025.

Recently, Co To island district (Quang Ninh) has also applied a pilot regulation requiring tourists not to bring plastic bottles, nylon bags and materials that pose a risk of environmental pollution when traveling. Besides, , many businesses providing tourism services have also converted their operations to an energy-saving and water-saving model, paying attention to recycling activities to reduce plastic waste.

A number of typical green tours have been formed, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists, such as the boating tour for garbage in Hoi An, cave exploration tour in Phong Nha-Ke Bang (Quang Binh), and tour to see turtles laying eggs at Hon Bay Canh (Con Dao island).

Following the Visit Vietnam Year 2022 themed “Quang Nam – Destination of Green Tourism”, the Visit Vietnam Year 2023 themed “Binh Thuan – Green Convergence” has continued to affirm efforts and consistent viewpoints of Vietnam in developing green and sustainable tourism.

Under Decision No. 882/QD-TTg dated July 22, 2022 on the National Action Plan on Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period, , the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to chair two groups of tasks “Improving institutions and policies for the management of ourism development towards green and sustainable growth” and "Prioritising the development of types of tourism towards green growth (eco-tourism, community-based tourism, agricultural and rural tourism, sea and island resort tourism associated the development of green sea economics, and adventure sports tourism ensuring green standards and criteria) as well as green tourism products.

Vietnam's tourism development strategy until 2030 also determines the development of Vietnam's tourism with a sustainable and inclusive orientation on the foundation of green growth and maximising the contribution of tourism to sustainable development goals.

The strategy offers many solutions such as applying digital technology and green and clean technology in tourism business; improving pollution control capacity; ensuring effective prevention, reduction and treatment of pollution sources from tourism activities; encouraging tourism service establishments to use clean energy, renewable energy, recycled and reused products and apply clean technology to limit environmental pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To improve the effectiveness of green tourism development, the experts believe that in addition to promoting communications to raise public awareness of responsible tourism, Vietnam should focus on developing some tourism product lines associated with nature that have been of great interest to tourists after the pandemic such as eco-tourism, resort tourism, health care tourism, agricultural tourism, and community-based tourism.

These are all friendly forms of tourism, bringing many valuable experiences to visitors. According to Pham Thi Hai Yen from Hanoi University of Culture, Vietnam needs to make investment incentive policies for green tourism development projects, prioritise investment in research and application of technologies using alternative energy, and apply "3R" technology (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) in tourism development activities.

From the perspective of a business, Deputy Branch Office Manager of Vidotour Company in Hanoi affirmed Vietnam can fully grasp and take advantage of the trend of choosing green tourism among tourists to harmonise the long-standing conflict between tourism development and community ecological environment protection.

Instead of just visiting, now tourists tend to want to integrate into the community to talk with local people, participate in festivals, learn to cook dishes, eat delicious food, and practicing traditional crafts. With these activities, they both directly benefit the indigenous community and contribute to preserving and developing local culture.

Therefore, the development of green and sustainable tourism requires special attention to creating memorable experiences and interactions for tourists because this is also an important factor contributing to the development of the sustainable, environmentally and socially responsible tourism.

Viet Anh - Translated by NDO