Tourism is nowadays becoming a indispensable need in the socioeconomy all around the world. Tourism activities is rapidly developing and becoming an important economic sector of many countries. Tourism is called a “nonsmoke industry” due to the huge income from its activities. In the ecofriendly orientation, sustainable development and response to global climate change of the economic sectors, the tourism industry has emerged some tourism forms associated with environmental protection, such as ecotourism, country tourism, community tourism ...
Trang 1A research to assess community eco-tourism and suggestions of solutions for sustainable tourism development in Van Don District,
Quang Ninh province
Ngô Hải Ninh
Viện Việt Nam học và Khoa học Phát triển Luận văn Thạc sĩ Chuyên ngành: Việt Nam học; Mã số: 60 31 60
Người hướng dẫn: GS TSKH Trương Quang Học
Năm bảo vệ: 2011
Keywords Du lịch sinh thái; Du lịch bền vững; Vân Đồn; Quảng Ninh
Content
INTRODUCTION
1 Aims of the study
*Rationale of the study
Tourism is nowadays becoming a indispensable need in the socio-economy all around the world Tourism activities is rapidly developing and becoming an important economic sector of many countries Tourism is called a “non-smoke industry” due to the huge income from its activities
In the eco-friendly orientation, sustainable development and response to global climate change of the economic sectors, the tourism industry has emerged some tourism forms associated with environmental protection, such as eco-tourism, country tourism, community tourism
As a result, the study of the development of this tourism type is essential Located about 40 kilometers from Ha Long city (Quang Ninh province), Van Don is known as one of the attractive landscape for eco-tourism of Quang Ninh In the overall plan for tourism development of Quang Ninh, period 2000-2010, Van Don was identified as one of four key areas to develop tourism
In particular, the Prime Minister has delivered the Decision No 786/QD-TTg dated 07.26.2007
on the approval of the project "Development of socio-economic in Van Don Economic Zone in
2020 and a vision to 2030", which focuses on "Building the general economy of the island district of Van Don to be a high-quality resort island."
With the natural tourism resources and rich human history along with a long history of tradition, Van Don Island district has great potentials to develop tourism, especially community
Trang 2ecotourism In fact, the inner strength of Van Don has not been effectively made advantage; people of the island have a low living standard
Though the living standard of many communes is being improved and income from tourism development is increased, the risk of poverty again hasn’t disappeared due to the unsustainable tourism investment and development It can be said that natural conditions, the issue of human resources and infrastructure are three fundamental elements which have a direct effect on the economic value from tourism
The communes who have potentials to develop ecotourism face difficulties due to limited power system and fresh water for people and for tourists In addition, the local community doesn’t often take part in tourism activities, economic benefits is low and unusual, depending largely on the tourist season
The form of participation of the local people almost spontaneous, stem from the rule of supply - demand (That is when the tourists need something, people see the revenues from that service to improve their life, therefore, they participate actively) For the purpose of investment in tourism development, the area of agriculture and aquaculture production is becoming narrow Consequently, solving jobs for local people is more and more urgent
From the above fact, the author courageously chosen the study: "A research to assess community eco-tourism and suggestions of solutions for sustainable tourism development in Van Don District, Quang Ninh province" as my master's degree graduation study, major Vietnam, in the hope of contribution to the sustainable tourism development particularly in Van Don district and generally Quang Ninh province
*Scientific significance of the study
The results of the study contributes to further clarify the concepts of ecotourism, community tourism, sustainable tourism development - a development has multiple meanings and prospects
in Vietnam nowadays
*Practical significance of the study
- Communities eco-tourism model towards sustainable development proposed in the thesis can
be applied to improve the quality and effectiveness of current tourism activities in Van Don and
to do further research and build a model community ecotourism towards sustainable development in Van Don district, Quang Ninh province
- The results of the thesis can be used as a reference for other districts in similar situations of this field
2 Background
There have been so far many scientific articles, documents and research of the author to write about Van Don, Quang Ninh, but most of them are historical studies, folklores and coastal people
Trang 3to praise the natural beauty of this place Several master theses refer to the object of their studies
as tourism contributing to tourism development in Van Don, but they only focus on the potentials and policies to develop the planned functional tourism areas The study on community eco-tourism associated with objective of sustainable development is a branch new research which has never done before yet
3 Object and scope of the study
- Object of the study
+ Ecotourism potentials in Van Don District
+ Community ecotourism activities being done in Van Don District towards a sustainable development
+ Local people who are living in the areas belong to the planned ecotourism in Van Don District
- Scope of the study
+ Place: Inner town of Cai Rong, areas along coast in Ha Long District, islands of Minh Chau, Quan Lan, Ba Mun, Ngoc Vung in Van Don District, Quang Ninh Province
+ Time: The research is done in 3 years, from 2009 to 2011
4 Study methodology and methods
4.1 Methodology
4.2 Methods
Thesis has used the following research methods:
- Methods of collection and analysis of documents and data: The author has conducted collecting published documents, data, work and; studies, magazines, books, internet; documents delivered by travel agents; reports of People's Committee of Van Don district over the years, updated data on tourism activities by the Culture and Information Office of Van Don district, Bai Tu Long National Park
- On - Field Survey Methods: This method is used to investigate the synthesis of natural conditions, economic and social subjects to supplement, modify and update the latest information Also, the direct surveys locally helps author the thoroughly evaluate of the current eco-tourism activities in the local community, which will be a factual basis to help the author propose some solutions for tourism development in line with local condition Surveys on the studied area were divided into three phases: Phase 1 (from late December to early January 2010), Phase 2 (from June 24 to June 30, 2011); Stage 3 (end of September 2011)
- Methods of Sociological Investigation: The author interviewed experts, got ideas from some experts in tourism activities in the district of Van Don to serve as basis for the comments,
Trang 4remarks of the thesis; In addition, interviewing and questionnaire survey conducted with 100 questionnaire papers delivered to the local people involved in tourism activities in Van Don (Minh Chau commune, Quan Lan commune ) 100 questionnaire papers were given to visitors
to Van Don Moreover, the author also carried out some live interviews with the waiters, waitresses, receptionists and other staff at hotels and resorts in Van Don Summing up the results of interviews and questionnaires, the author will have a basis for proposals contributed to the complete the sustainable community eco-tourism development in Van Don
- Expert Consultation : Get consultation of local and national managers and professors in tourism
5 The structure of thesis
Apart from the introduction (7 pages), conclusion (4 pages), list of abbreviations, list of tables, list of references and appendices, the main contents of the thesis consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical basis of community eco-tourism towards sustainable development (18 pages)
Chapter 2: Status and potentials of community ecotourism activities in Van Don District, Quang Ninh Province(46 pages)
Chapter 3: Suggested solutions for sustainable community ecotourism development in Van Don District, Quang Ninh Province (20 pages)
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BASIS OF COMMUNITY ECOTOURISM TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
1.1 Ecotourism
In the developed countries, the type of ecotourism is well developed, typically as European Community (EU), United States, Canada, Australia Ecotourism has been developed in the developing countries: Nepal, Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia, some regions in China and Central America They have successfully built the ecotourism models, such as Ecomost of the EU (European Community Models of Sustainable Tourism), ecotourism villages of Austria, Huangshan model in China, community-based ecotourism model in Nepal
Since late 1990, Ecotourism has caused the attention at the national level with the participation
of large organizations such as the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; IUCN With the financial support from international organizations, Vietnam has opened many training courses, seminars on ecotourism However, this work mainly focuses on national parks and natural conservation areas such as: Cuc Phuong, Cat Ba, Ba, Ba Vi, Bach Ma There have been many agencies and individuals with emphasis on research and application of ecotourism in Vietnam Thus, living environment of plants and animals, air quality, water quality and soil environment had unbeneficial changes with the life of plants and animals and humans because of tourist activities Therefore, the development of ecotourism forms requires the strict management
Trang 5and diminution of the negative impacts of tourism on the ecological environment to ensure sustainable development objectives
1.2 Community-based tourism
For tourism, community tourism form contributes to diversify tourism products, attract tourists and protect tourism resources For the community, community tourism has equitable distribution
of benefits from tourism activities for the participants, including local community Community tourism brings economic benefits to the community members participating directly to provide services to tourists, and the whole community will benefit from the contribution of tourism activities on the local environment, society economy and culture Community tourism is only developed in a condition that the destination has rich and pristine natural tourism resources and unique human and distinctive tourism resources At the same time, community tourism must possess strong traditional cultural values reflecting the ethnic characteristics, and especially they must have right responsibility recognition on tourism development and resource conservation 1.3 Sustainable Tourism Development
Since the early 90s, scientists around the world have referred to tourism development for the pure economic purpose causing threat to ecological environment and local culture The consequences of this impact will affect to the long-term development of the tourism industry Therefore, the requirement of study on "Sustainable Tourism Development" is appeared to limit the negative impacts of tourism activities to ensure the long-term development Some forms of tourism initially interested in environmental aspects have begun to appear, such as: ecotourism, community-based tourism, exploration tourism, adventure tourism that has helped raise image
of a direction of tourism development with responsibility, ensuring sustainable development Currently, in the process of knowledge unity, the concept of sustainable tourism development still has much differences, especially the point of view as perspective of sustainable tourism development should ensure the principles of resource, environmental and cultural conservation with the view that the leading principle of sustainable tourism development is economic growth brought by tourism Economic perspective that the main interest for the development of tourism profits; "Sustainable tourism is the tourism activities in which there is sustained growth in a determined time period" However, this concept is subject to much criticism scientists, especially researchers on environmental resources Thus, sustainable tourism development is a subsidiary of sustainable development identified by Brundtlant Commission in 1987 The focus
of sustainable tourism development is to struggle for balance between socio-economic objectives and conservation of resources, environment and community culture as to increase tourist’s satisfaction of increasingly high and diversified demand This balance may change over time, when there is a change in the social rules, the conditions to ensure the ecological environment and development of science and technology Although the approach ensuring sustainable tourism development must be based on the balance of environmental resources with a unified planning Sustainable tourism in Vietnam is still a new concept But, through the lessons and experience of tourism development in many countries in the region and the world, awareness of a tourism
Trang 6development method with responsible for the environment, effective to teach, educate, raise awareness to the community have appeared in Vietnam in the form of various types of sightseeing, learning, studying tours with the name "Community Ecotourism" " Ecotourism" Sub-conclusion of Chapter 1
Chapter 1 of the study has solved three problems: Theoretical basis; factual basis of the type of community ecotourism and sustainable development in general and sustainable tourism development in particular
In the theoretical basis, the author has emphasized the concept of ecotourism, community tourism and sustainable tourism development as a theoretical foundation for the study The author has also pointed out the meaning, principles and conditions for the community-based tourism development, besides; the author has also referred to the characteristics, purpose and relationships between local community and tourism work In practical basis, the author has made the development model and the lessons learned with two examples in Thailand and Nepal, two countries well known to operate community-based ecotourism That is the basis of the premise for the analysis of potential and actual situation of community ecotourism development in Van Don district towards sustainable development which will be presented in Chapter 2 Based on a diagram of the development model of the two countries on which the author can build community ecotourism development model towards sustainable development for the study subjects in Chapter 3
CHAPTER 2 STATUS AND POTENTIALS OF COMMUNITY ECOTOURISM ACTIVITIES
IN VAN DON DISTRICT, QUANG NINH PROVINCE
2.1 General introduction to Van Don district
2.1.1 Geographic site
Located in the northernmost area of Vietnam and Mong Cai international border gate in the southwest border of China about 120 km, Van Don is a mountainous island district located in the southeastern of Quang Ninh province, with coordinates from 20o40' to 21o12' north latitude and from 107o19' to 107o42' east longitude Geographical location of Van Don district is specified: Bordering to the north and northeastern with Tien Yen and Dam Ha district, bordering to the East with Co To district and Bai Tu Long Bay, bordering to the west with Cam Pha township, bordering to the south of Tonkin Gulf
2.1.2 Area
Van Don district has a total area of 2,171.33 km2, of which the natural land area of 551.33 km2, 1620 km2 of the open sea Island District includes 11 communes and one town of Cai Rong The district has a total of 600 islands in Bai Tu Long Bay, which has more than 20 resided islands The largest island is Cai Bau with width of 17,212 ha, including Cai Rong town
as the economic, political and social center of the district and 6 communes: Dong Xa, Ha Long,
Trang 7Van Yen, Doan Ket, Binh Dan, and Dai Xuyen Van Hai Islands have five communes of Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ngoc Vung, Thang Loi and Ban Sen
2.1.3 Population and population distribution
As of 31/12/2009, Van Don district had a population of 41,081 people, 9,130 households, with nine ethnic groups: Kinh, Tay, Nung, Dao, Muong, San Diu, Cao Lan, Hoa, and Than Sin coexisting in harmony, in which, the Kinh accounts for 88.6%, other ethnic groups account for 11.4% The population distribution is not uniform across 20 islands, in 80 communes and villages, the most densely in Cai Bau island and Quan Lan Island Population density: 75.4 people per km2 Population is concentrated on a number of communes (most populous as Dong
Xa, over 9,000 people), the rest is scattered over the island communes, Minh Chau commune had the least population of 900 people (2009 figures)
2.2 The potential for community ecotourism in Van Don, Quang Ninh
2.2.1 The potential of the topography and geology for tourism
Karst limestone topography interspersed with soil islands is the outstanding universal value of the topography, geology in Van Don - Bai Tu Long zone, conical Karst towers are common in Bai Tu Long bay, developing limestone island landscape, and it is a region having international significance on Karst landscape, as the basis of geomorphological science Marine erosion of limestone islands is the features, over the period of erosion; many islands have been forming the narrow spikes There is the cave formation process lasted from the start with the existence of an aggressive basis to this day
The topography of Van Don is very diverse with mountains, sea, stone island, soil islands with pools, tidal and mangrove coastal flats The types of terrain have created for natural ecological landscapes of Van Don particularly attractive characteristics
2.2.2 Climate potential
The climate of Van Don has features of a tropical climate with two seasons: summer and winter, the average annual temperature is between 22 – 24oC Van Don is located the monsoon region from March to August, Southeast winds blowing in from the sea to make it cool, the winter is directly affected by the cold and dry northeast monsoon (NPc) Van Don has many sub-climate regions, high radiation, more fog, rain and wind storms Average annual rainfall is 2,000 mm, the rainy season is from May to October (in rainy season, it reaches 2,225 mm) Annual average humidity is 84%, 70%in the dry season and lower The dangerous weather phenomena such as thunderstorm, high winds do not occur as much as the lowland and midland This climate condition is very favorable for development of tourism such as resorts, beach, and ecological cultural and adventure tourism
2.2.3 Hydrographical, maritime potential for tourism
Trang 8Regarding flow: because the river systems are not big, in addition the coastline is sinuous and separated by mountains, so the influence of water current from rivers to the sea is great The flow here is mainly dominated tidal current, middle flow is usually narrow, with greater speed The largest river in the district is Voi Lon (19km long), because the river system is not big, so it normally lacks of water in the dry season, particularly affecting the daily life of people, especially communes in island Regarding hydration: the temperature of sea water is changed according to seasons, the highest is in the summer, and salinity of sea water is also changed according to seasons In winter water temperature is about 180C, the lowest temperature is in January; in summer water temperature is around 280C, the average annual water temperature fluctuates between 22 – 240C
2.2.4 Biodiversity potential for tourism
Van Don has the advantage of environment assessed about biological value similar to Ha Long Bay Surrounding the islands of the district is a large fishery in the northern Gulf coast with beaches and coastal and mangrove areas making plentiful fishery and marine resources Ecosystem: Ecosystem of green broad-leaved tropical forests on limestone mountain;Ecosystem
of broad-leaved forests on tropical mountain; Ecosystem of mangrove forestd; Ecosystem of coral reef; Ecosystem of sea plants; Ecosystem of farming valley on limestone mountain In short, biodiversity is a necessary factor to develop forms of tourism ecological Thus, conservation of biodiversity will help to ecotourism operation conditions for survival and development
2.2.5 Some of the typical tourism destinations
- Soi Nhu Cave; Ha Giat cave; Ngoc Vung site; Cai De cave; Minh Chau Forest; Cat Quyt mangrove forest; Beach clusters of Minh Chau - Son Hao - Quan Lan - Ngoc Vung; Long Beach…
2.2.6 Humanity tourism resources
Coming to Van Don, combining with visits to natural attractions, tourists have the opportunity to visit the ancient trading port of Van Don which was prosperous and crowded from ancient times As an area with wonder island system in sequence with the region of Ha Long long ago became the famous scenic spots of the country associated with tradition of Halong, Bai
Tu Long Van Don has more than 600 large and small islands woven into the walls, the grill area
of the country, a busy commercial port areas of the country since the period Ly - Tran (XI-XII century) Van Don is an outdoor geological museum, according to historic record of 19th Thien Hung year in the Tran dynasty,Van Don was established (with Binh Hai border pass) This is also the cradle of Ha Long culture, Soi Nhu culture Cai Beo culture, Thoi Gieng relic has thrived to become Ha Long culture The hallmarks of Ha Long culture are in numerous parts of the midland and northern delta
2.3 Current status of community ecotourism in Van Don
Trang 92.3.1 The main destinations
The tourism destinations can be exploited in Van Don are areas with beautiful scenery: Long Beach, Soi Nhu, Cong Dong, Cong Tay, Minh Chau, Ngoc Vung, Quan Lan Best known as Ba Mun National Forest, Hai Van beach, the ancient trading port of Van Don, Phuong Hoang island, Thuong Mai, Ha Mai In general, Van Don mountainous region creates parallel layers, each region with different landscape Van Don archipelago has main tourist routes in the North East - North West, these routes have ecological scenery attracting tourists
A number of other destinations associated with the historical development of Van Don over many dynasties, associated with the formation and development of Ha Long culture (4500 years ago) are: Ao Tien, Mat Rong dam, Fairy wells, Quan Lan communal house, Lam pagoda, Dat Nung tower, the citadel of Mac dynasty Although there are abundant resources of tourism, but the exploitation of these resources to create attractive tourism products for tourists is not an easy problem Currently, the exploiting tourism products are monotonous and poorly, not really have specific mark, not have professional nature To get a imagery with particular color, unforgettable impression to visitor during the next period, the tourism industry of Van Don needs to try to create special tourist products with their own specific characteristics
2.3.2 The facilities for tourism
Staying service; Restaurant; Transport services; Additional services
2.3.3 International visitors
Table 2.2 Annual number of international visitor to Van Don
(period 2006-2010)
(Unit:person)
TT
Year
Item 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
1 Total number of visitor 241.600 276.000 286.500 350.000
415.000
2 International visitor 1.500 2.119 2.750 3.500 5.500
(Source: Department of Culture and Information - Van Don District, 2011)
Currently, a number of travel companies organize tour guiding visitor to tourism sites on the islands of Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ba Mun Tourists are mainly from the UK, France, Sweden
Trang 10They are very interested in wild, natural beauty of island resources, but they do not appreciate the facilities invested for tourism development and limited awareness of local people To develop island ecotourism, it requires further consensus on many fronts: local authorities, tourism businesses and local people
2.3.4 Domestic visitors
Table 2.3 Domestic visitor to Van Don
(period 2006-2010)
Year Number of visitor
2006 240,100
2007 273,881
2008 283,750
2009 310,500
2010 409,500
(Source: Department of Culture and Information - Van Don District, 2011)
Domestic visitor to Van Don are mainly living in Quang Ninh, Ha Noi, and some northern provinces (Bac Ninh, Bac Giang Thai Nguyen .) A few come from Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces In addition, there is a number of overseas Vietnamese to Van Don in the form of family visit, official visitor organized by companies or meeting of the event Although this type of service does not meet the travel needs of visitors, tourism seasonality, on holiday weekends, the number of domestic tourists coming to Van Don to rest, relax, breathe fresh air is increasingly larger
2.3.5 Revenue on tourism
Table 2.4 Tourism revenue of Van Don district (2006-2010)
(Unit: Billion VND)
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Revenue 2,416 2,760 3,460 95,000
116,000
(Source: Department of Culture and Information - Van Don District, 2011)