The central province of Thua Thien-Hue on April 24 launched a project promoting responsible and sustainable tourism to improve livelihoods for local residents.

The venture, to be carried out in 2014-2015, has a total investment of 920,000 USD, of which 676,000 USD has been contributed by the Luxemburg Government. The rest is coming from the UN.

Boasting the International Labour Organisation, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the neighouring province of Quang Nam as co-partners, the project will concentrate on developing green tours, which will be largely run by local people.

Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces will work to enhance the capabilities of travel companies in generating more jobs for their residents.

Provincial representatives said that each province needs to establish its own steering board to monitor the implementation of the project.

On April 18-19, a training course on responsible tourism was held in Hanoi for 33 tourism teachers, directors and representatives of the Vietnam Tourism Association.

The course was organised by the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme for the first time in Vietnam.-VNA