Hue (VNA) - A conference was held in the central city of Hue on December 12 to review and discuss strategic orientations for the 2023–2025 roadmap to reduce plastic waste in Hue’s tourism sector.
The initiative aims to strengthen Hue’s image not only as a distinctive cultural and historical destination, but also as an environmentally friendly and low-plastic city.
According to Duong Thi Thu Truyen, Deputy Director of the Hue Department of Tourism, awareness and responsibility for environmental protection among businesses, accommodation establishments, tourist sites and visitors have improved significantly in recent years. Communication campaigns, advocacy efforts, commitments to plastic reduction, and compliance monitoring have been carried out regularly. Notably, Hue was recognised as the ASEAN Clean Tourist City in 2024 by the ASEAN Tourism Forum.
Hue will increase communications to raise awareness across the tourism sector, while encouraging and supporting businesses to adopt green, environmentally friendly tourism models. The industry will strengthen cooperation with organisations and localities in waste management and the rollout of sustainable and low-plastic tourism models, contributing to the goal of transforming Hue into a “green – clean – bright” destination that develops tourism responsibly.
The Department of Tourism will continue to play a core role in driving plastic-reduction initiatives throughout the sector, working closely with relevant agencies, international projects, enterprises, training institutions, and local communities to scale up effective models. Efforts will also focus on communication, training, and finalising mechanisms and policies to incentivise green tourism, alongside maintaining monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure substantive and sustainable results.
Over the past three years, Hue tourism authorities have strengthened communication and advocacy for plastic waste reduction through 10 training sessions with 690 participants, “Coffee Talk” events, professional Zalo groups, and direct engagement with businesses. As a result, 102 enterprises and business households have signed commitments to reduce plastics, and 12 hotels have pioneered plastic-reduction practices.
To move towards “no SUP” (single-use plastic) tours and destinations, the tourism sector has partnered with the project “Hue – A Plastic Smart Urban Centre in Central Vietnam” to provide specialised training for travel firms and develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) for plastic reduction. Five companies are now operating low-plastic tours, in addition to two pilot tours introduced under the project. Four community-based tourist sites - Thuy Bieu, Dam Chuon, Thanh Toan Tile-roofed Bridge, and Ngu My Thanh-Con Toc - have implemented plastic-reduction models, engaging 165 trainees and 41 local businesses.
Public communication has been widely amplified through reports, articles, and broadcasts. Hue’s plastic-reduction model has been recognised in publications by Plastic Smart City, WWF, and academic institutions. Several new initiatives have also been introduced, including 12 rest stops equipped with free drinking water dispensers, plastic-free restaurants, glass-bottle circularity programmes, plastic-reduction education models, and a green location search function on the Hue-S app, all contributing to the advancement of sustainable tourism./.
