On October 23, in Hanoi, the Institute for Tourism Development Research (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) and the Japan Institute for Transport and Tourism Research held an international conference with the theme "Overcrowding in tourist centers and satellite destination development - Vietnam and Japan together towards sustainable tourism".
This is one of the events marking an important milestone in the tourism industry of the two countries on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.
At the workshop, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet said that Vietnam's tourism industry has made a strong recovery after the serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of September 2023, international visitors to Vietnam reached 8.9 million, of which the Japanese tourist market reached 414 thousand visitors, ranking 5th in the top international tourist markets to Vietnam; domestic tourists reached 93.5 million visitors, total revenue from tourists reached 536.5 thousand billion VND. This is a remarkable result, demonstrating the efforts of the entire tourism industry, contributing to the country's economic development, ensuring people's livelihoods, promoting the image of the country and Vietnamese people to international friends.
However, along with the development of tourism, especially in localities and destinations with strong growth in international and domestic visitors, there is a situation of tourist overload. This situation has directly affected the experience of tourists, the quality of tourism products and services, the environment; affected the management and operation of destinations; and the quality of life of local people.
The Deputy Minister expects Vietnamese and Japanese tourism experts to exchange and discuss related topics to propose practical initiatives and solutions related to tourist overload at tourist centers and satellite destination development.
According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism), the cause of overload is due to the boom in tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic, the seasonality of many destinations, limited technical infrastructure, lack of capacity planning at destinations, no reasonable tourist regulation plan, and lack of product diversity. Overloading tourists has had a significant impact on the environment, culture, society, and infrastructure at destinations as well as on tourists' psychology. These impacts cause a decline in the value of experiences, a decline in the quality of products and services, and damage to the reputation of the destination's image.
Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan proposed a solution to this problem: developing satellite destinations to share the number of visitors at the centers. However, there are still difficulties and challenges such as limited community awareness, lack of synchronous infrastructure connection, lack of orientation and strategy in product development, difficulties in capital mobilization, inconsistent policy mechanisms, weak connection between localities...
Therefore, it is necessary to create mechanisms, policies, and a favorable investment environment; strengthen the connection between the center and satellite destinations; improve infrastructure; focus on environmental management; identify the tourist market before approving investment projects; develop a set of criteria and guide localities to build sustainable satellite destinations.
The workshop listened to the opening speeches of speakers from the state management agencies of tourism of the two countries on the issue of "Tourist overload at some destinations in Vietnam, developing satellite destinations, towards sustainable tourism" and "Latest inbound tourism trends and efforts of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) towards sustainable tourism". On that basis, the delegates assessed the current status of tourism development in some destinations attracting a large number of domestic and international visitors; discussed issues related to sustainable tourism development; thereby proposing a number of measures to reduce the pressure of tourism on the destination...
Also at the workshop, representatives of the Institute for Tourism Development Research (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) and the Japan Institute for Transport and Tourism Research signed a memorandum of cooperation, working together towards sustainable tourism development./.
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