Workshop seeks ways to develop community-based tourism

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in collaboration with the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association – Vietnam chapter, held a workshop in central Da Nang city on August 24 to seek ways to develop community-based tourism.

AJC Director Dananjaya Axioma said that Vietnam’s community-based tourism has become more attractive to tourists, especially foreigners.

Developing this form of tourism helps diversify tourism products, while promoting the advantage of local culture and improving the living conditions for locals, he affirmed.

The workshop offered a good chance for enterprises, organisations and households involved in community-based tourism to exchange experience with Japanese experts, he said, adding that the success of Japan will be suggestions for Vietnam to increase its community tourism quality.

According to experts, Vietnam has yet to have appropriate investment in this field, while most of locals are doing community tourism unprofessionally and have limited foreign language skills to introduce their localities’ cultural features to tourists.

To increase community tourism quality, Mami Yoda, a Japanese expert, suggested the tourism sector build a website to introduce images and activities involved in community-based tourism in localities, and intensify the promotion of the tourism type on newspapers, television or social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

She stressed the necessity and importance of preferential loans for households who are capable of implementing community-based tourism, particularly those in far-flung and ethnic areas.

The AJC director pledged that in the time ahead, the association will provide financial assistance for, share experience with and help train human resources for Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam in this field.-VNA