Vietnam strengthens cooperation with World Travel and Tourism Council

Committee Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung received and worked with Ms. Liz Ortiguera , Executive Director of Asia-Pacific region of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)

Attending the reception and working session were Director of the Department of International Cooperation Nguyen Phuong Hoa and Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration Nguyen Trung Khanh.

At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung sincerely thanked WTTC for its responsible cooperation in regularly caring, supporting and accompanying Vietnam in major events such as forums and conferences organized by the Vietnamese Government to recommend rapid and sustainable tourism development, while sharing and providing general reports and recommendations on the environment and recommendations specific to countries, including Vietnam.

For her part, Ms. Liz Ortiguera shared that WTTC has made many contributions to sustainable and responsible global development. In addition to the general reports, WTTC also shared a separate report on the impact of Vietnam's tourism and travel industry on the environment and society. Ms. Liz Ortiguera assessed that Asia - Pacific is a dynamic development region, in which the impressive figures on the development of Vietnam's tourism in recent times are vivid proof.

At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed Vietnam tourism is identified as a comprehensive and spearhead economic sector, developing according to a green economic model , developing sustainable tourism, environmental factors are always put first.

Introducing the Environmental and Social Research project, Ms. Liz Ortiguera said that the report provides data on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions as well as the intensity of water use in the tourism industry. The WTTC report provides figures on human resources in the tourism industry. In addition to this report, WTTC shares research on food waste and some other specialties in the tourism sector, introduces a digital platform, which collects a lot of related data such as key indicators on tourism and travel at the global, regional and national levels, etc.

Ms. Liz Ortiguera , Managing Director, Asia Pacific

Thanking Ms. Liz Ortiguera for her comments, Minister Nguyen Van Hung shared that Vietnam's tourism is identified as a comprehensive and spearhead economic sector, developing according to a green economic model. Vietnam's viewpoint and orientation to develop sustainable tourism, the environmental factor is always given top priority. Minister Nguyen Van Hung said that at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26), Vietnam made strong statements on environmental protection and is still fulfilling its commitments as a responsible member of the international community. Issues such as net emissions, coal power replacement, environmental wastewater, etc. are all raised by the Government and have a roadmap to minimize negative human impacts on the environment.

In terms of social environment, the Vietnamese Government is establishing a balanced environment in the process of arranging the workforce, solving employment for women and youth, and social security regimes to create an equal and happy living environment.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung gift to Mrs. Liz Ortiguera

Minister Nguyen Van Hung highly appreciated the recommendations of WTTC on environmental and social issues. These are practical and useful contents in the process of researching and formulating development policies for Vietnam. To truly live in a green - clean - beautiful world, Minister Nguyen Van Hung said that each country needs to join hands and take specific and practical actions. Therefore, in the coming time, Vietnam will focus on the issue of maintaining a clean and sustainable ecological environment at destinations, tourist spots, and tourist areas, continuing to create a balanced social environment, promoting the interests of workers. Minister Nguyen Van Hung proposed to apply the scientific reports that WTTC has researched to apply in formulating policies and strategies for developing Vietnam's tourism, and at the same time requested WTTC to support the development of a market report for Vietnam's tourism with the content of assessing the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism and world trends affecting the tourism and travel industry.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Executive Director of WTTC affirmed his readiness to support Vietnam in specialized reports, implementing sustainable tourism development projects, or organizing conferences and seminars on related topics with the aim of helping Vietnam's tourism develop more strongly in a sustainable direction, associated with environmental and social protection.

NGUYEN DUC THANG (from Vientiane, Laos)

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