Generating environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in ba vi district hanoi vietnam

Generating environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam.... 21 Table 3: Recommended criteria and indicators for

Student: Bui Thuy Linh Student ID: 1553090425 Class: K60 Natural Resources Management Course: 2015 – 2019

Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA

Supervisor: Ph.D Nguyen Thi Thanh An

Hanoi, 2019

Especially I would like to thank my supervisor Ph.D Nguyen Thi Thanh

An, who directly supported me throughout the process of conducting the thesis, for her patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge Her guidance helped me all the time in studying and writing this thesis

I sincerely thank you!

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

TABLE OF CONTENT ii

TABLE LIST iv

FIGURE LIST v

ABSTRACT 1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 2

CHAPTER II GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 4

2.1 Goals 4

2.2 Objectives 4

CHAPTER III STUDY SITE AND METHODOLOGY 5

3.1 Study site 5

3.1.1 Natural conditions 6

3.1.2 Current situation of population and humanities resources 8

3.2 Methodology 9

3.2.1 Process of implementing the topic 9

3.2.2 Methods of general information collection 10

3.2.3 Delphi method 11

3.2.4 Statistical analysis 14

CHAPTER IV RESULTS 20

4.1 Current situation of tourism development in Ba Vi District 20

4.1.1 Tourism development potential 20

4.1.2 The main types of Ba Vi Tourism 22

4.1.3 Challenges for tourism development of Ba Vi District 24

4.2 Generating environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam 24

4.2.1 Test results in round 1 27

4.2.2 Test results in round 2 34

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE TOPIC 44

5.1 General conclusions and contributions to the topic 44 5.2 Limitations of the topic 45 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

TABLE LIST

Table 1 The number of tourists in 2016-2018 in Ba Vi District 20

Table 2: List of tourism business in Ba Vi District, Hanoi 21

Table 3: Recommended criteria and indicators for consultation with experts on sustainable tourism monitoring and evaluation in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam in round 1 25

Table 4: Statistical description of evaluation results of experts after round 1 28

Table 5: Test results by Friedman test round 1 30

Table 6: Calculation results of Cronbach’s Alpha in round 1 30

Table 7: Calculation results of Intraclass Correlation Coefficient in round 1 31

Table 8: A summary of criteria removed after round 1 32

Table 9: A summary of some general ideas for indicators removed after round 1 32

Table 10: Recommended criteria and indicators for consultation with experts on sustainable tourism monitoring and evaluation in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam in round 2 34

Table 11: Statistical description of evaluation results of experts after round 2 36

Table 12: Test results by Friedman test round 2 38

Table 13: Calculation results of Cronbach’s Alpha in round 2 38

Table 14: Calculation results of Intraclass Correlation Coefficientin round 2 39

Table 15: Set of environmental criteria and indicators to monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism after 2 Delphi rounds 40

FIGURE LIST

Figure 1 Ba Vi Tourism Map 5 Figure 2: The thesis’s analysis framework 10

ABSTRACT

Tourism industry is important because the benefits it brings and its role as

a commercial activity that creates demand and growth for many more industries Tourism not only contributes towards more economic activities but also generates more employment, revenues and play a significant role in development Ba Vi District is blessed with beautiful untouched countryside and

is strongly imbued with many cultural and historical characteristics Ba Vi has great potential for developing spiritual, ecological and relaxation tours and it is striving to turn tourism into a spearhead economic sector However, in recent years, tourism has been causing inadequacies and constraints in Ba Vi's environment Facing such a reality, by Delphi method, this thesis has been developed to monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism which contributes to promoting Ba Vi tourism to more sustainable development in the environmental dimension

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Vietnam tourism has been dubbed the “goose that laid the golden eggs"

because of the huge benefits that tourism brings to the country Especially, when people's life is getting better, their demand for enjoyment is increasing, leading

to a strong development trend of tourism On the other hand, the explosion in urban and industrial zones in recent decades has made people more and more distant from nature People often live and work in industrial environments with high pressure This has motivated people to race towards nature, the demand to find places with quiet space, fresh and cool air to rest, relax and renew human health is increasing This is an opportunity for tourism to develop

Tourism is a general economic industry, whose existence and development interact with many socio-economic sectors and fields, in which the relationship between tourism and the environment are linked: the existence and development of tourism associated with the environment, tourism only develops when the environment is protected (Trung Dung, 2017)

The proper exploitation and usage of natural resources and environmental conditions at the destination during the development process of tourism is a desirable aspect (UNWTO, 2002) Environmental protection is always an important issue for tourism activities The impact of tourism on the environment

in the development process will be limited in parallel with the contributions of the business community for efforts to restore resources and protect the environment (Ha Thi Phuong Lan, 2012)

Ba Vi is a district in the semi-mountainous region, located to the northwest of Hanoi capital With a total area of 424.03 km2, the population is over 267 thousand people (including 3 ethnics: Kinh, Muong, Dao) The district has 31 communes and towns, including 7 mountainous communes The East borders Son Tay town, the South borders HoaBinh province, the West borders PhuTho Province and the North borders Vinh Phuc Province Ba Vi is endowed

by nature with a romantic scenery, rich ecosystems, diverse vegetation and considered "green lungs" in the west of Hanoi capital

Due to favorable geographical conditions and the attraction of resources, tourism activities in Ba Vi District developed rapidly The development of tourism has affected sfvthe natural environment in Ba Vi District However, the protection of the natural environment in tourism activities in Ba Vi is still limited, the efficiency is not high, and leading to the environmental quality is not guaranteed for the success of tourism activities The issue of environmental protection in Ba Vi tourism activities has an important meaning in the tourism development strategy of the region (Vice Chairman of the Ba Vi District People's Committee Do Manh Hung, 2018) So, tourism organizations, managers, scientists, people who participate in tourism activities must be responsible for contributing their strength and wisdom to the existence and

development of Ba Vi tourism Therefore, I selected the topic: "Generating

environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam" to make a graduation thesis in the

hope that the topic will be built a set of criteria and indicators of environmental assessment of tourism activities in Ba Vi District, and find positive solutions to protect the natural environment for sustainable development

CHAPTER II GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 2.1 Goals

The goal of this thesis is to generate environmental criteria and indicators

in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam

2.2 Objectives

1) To access current tourism status in Ba Vi District

2) To establish a scientific and practical basis for establishing environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District

3) To develop a set of environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in the study area by the Delphi method

CHAPTER III STUDY SITE AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 Study site

Figure 1 Ba Vi Tourism Map

(Source: People's Committee of Ba Vi District)

3.1.1 Natural conditions

3.1.1.1 Geographical location

Ba Vi is one of 29 Districts in Hanoi, Vietnam It is located between latitudes 21°4′0″ North and longitudes 105°20′5″ East in the Red River Delta

Ba Vi is lying in the northwest bottom of Hanoi, containing a majority part of

Ba Vi Mountain running through the Southern of district

It borders Son Tay town to the east, Thach That to the southeast It also borders Luong Son district (southeast district) and Ky Son of Hoa Binh (southwest district) To the north, the district bounded Viet Tri City, Phu Tho, with the boundary of the Red River (Thao River) located in the north Bordering the west of the district is the Lam Thao, Tam Nong, Thanh Thuy District of Phu Tho Besides,

Ba Vi bounded Vinh Tuong District, Vinh Phuc Province to the Northeast, with the boundary of the Red River Ba Vi has an area of 424.03 km², the largest district of Hanoi, which includes two large lakes: Suoi Hai Lake and Dong Mo Lake (at Dong

Mo tourist area); both are artificial lakes being located in the watershed of Tich river, which flows through Son Tay town and some western districts of Hanoi, then pour water into the Day river (by Hanoi portal, 2018) Notably, Ba Vi National Park is an important destination in the district At the boundaries of the district and PhuTho province, there are two junctions: Trung Ha junction between the Da River and Red River (in Phong Van) and the Bach Hac junction between the Red River and Lo River belong to Tan Hong and PhuCuong communes, opposite to Viet Tri City (Nguyen Thi Quynh Trang, 2017)

3.1.1.2 Topography

Ba Vi District is a semi-mountainous region, with lower terrain from the southwest to the northeast, divided into three different sub-regions: mountainous areas, hilly areas, and plains The mountainous area accounts for 46.5% of the district area, including the entire Ba Vi National Park and 7 mountainous communes The hilly area accounts for 34.7% of the district area The

topography of this region gradually decreases from an altitude of 100m to about 20m in the Northwest direction, mainly hills, mounds mixed with high fields The delta is relatively flat, accounting for 18.5% of the district area

The land of Ba Vi District is divided into two groups, the delta group, and the hilly land group The delta land group has 12,892 ha, equaling 41.1% of the district land area Group of mountainous land: 18,478 hectares equal to 58.9% of the district land (Nguyen ThiQuynhTrang, 2017)

3.1.1.3 Climate and hydrological

Ba Vi is located in the Red River Delta region affected by a tropical monsoon climate The average meteorological factors for many years at Ba Vi meteorological station show that:

The rainy season starts in April and ends in October with an average temperature of 23°C, June and July with the highest average temperature of 28.6°C The total rainfall is 1832.2mm (accounting for 90.87% of the annual rainfall) The monthly rainfall exceeds 100 mm with 104 rainy days and the largest rainy month is August (339.6mm)

The dry season starts in November and ends in March with temperatures around 20°C, in January with the lowest temperature of 15.8°C; the rainfall in months varies from 15.0 to 64.4mm and the month of least rain in December is only 15mm

Ba Vi is home to a very unique hydrological network, surrounded by almost two large rivers, the Red River and the Da River In addition, there are many small streams originating from the top of the mountain In the rainy season, a large amount of water creates beautiful waterfalls such as AoVua waterfall, Nga waterfall, KhoangXanh waterfall Standing on the top of Ba Vi Mountain, we can observe the whole view of the area To the West is the Da River running close to the foot of the mountain The East is Dong Mo Lake, the

North is Suoi Hai Lake, and the farther is the Red River All create the charming landscape of the Ba Vi Mountain (Minh Hue, 2019)

3.1.1.4 Forest resources

Ba Vi District has nearly 9,867 ha of forest, accounting for about 40% of the total forest area of Hanoi City The forests in Ba Vi District are concentrated mainly in 7 mountainous communes in the buffer zone of Ba Vi National Park

Ba Vi forest is rich and diverse in types and species, especially in Ba Vi National Park is a place to preserve rare and precious genetic resources of forest trees, serving the conservation of forest flora and fauna and scientific research

According to Mr Le Minh Tuyen, Director of Hanoi Forest Protection Department, Ba Vi flora and fauna are very diverse and abundant Currently, Vietnamese botanists estimate about 2000 types Including tropical and subtropical plants, the first step was to list 812 species of vascular plants with 88 plant families, 270 species, including many rare and precious kinds woods such

as Chukrasiatabularis, Nageiafleuryi, Madhcapasquieri, etc Two very precious plants recorded in the "Vietnam Red Book" are Calocedrusmacrolepis and Taxuswallichianawhich are strictly protected Animals have 45 species of mammals, 115 types of birds, 61 types of reptiles, 27 types of amphibians (planning document of Ba Vi National Park) This is a rare and precious forest resource that is strictly protected (Minh Hue, 2019)

3.1.2 Current situation of population and humanities resources

The district has 31 administrative units including Tay Dang town and 30 communes: Ba Trai, Ba Vi, Cam Thuong, Cam Linh, Co Do, Chau Son, Chu Minh, Dong Quang, Dong Thai, Khanh Thuong, Minh Chau and Minh Quang, Phong Van, Phu Cuong, Phu Chau, Phu Dong, Phu Phuong, Phu Son, Son Da, Tan Hong, Tan Linh, Tien Phong, Tong Bat, Thai Hoa, Thuan My, Thuy An, Van Thang, Van Hoa, Vat Lai, Yen Bai In 2018, the total population is about

267.300 people (including 3 ethnic groups: Kinh, Muong, and Dao) (Nguyen Viet Giao- Deputy Head of Culture and Information Division of Ba Vi District)

Mr Bach Cong Tien, Vice Chairman of Ba Vi District People's Committee said: Ba Vi is considered to have great potential for tourism development but due to its large area, unequal education level is the reason for tourism development which not true to local ability The current reality in mountainous communes is still facing many difficulties in transportation and other social infrastructure Due to the overall lack of infrastructure, construction

is fragmented and has deteriorated over the years and has not been reinvested These factors have a great influence on local tourism development

3.2 Methodology

3.2.1 Process of implementing the topic

The process of researching and developing a set of environmental criteria and indicators for sustainable tourism was carried out for a period of 3 months (from July 2019 to September 2019), which goes through the following stages:

Figure 2: The thesis’s analysis framework

(Sources: Nguyen Thi Thanh An, 2019)

The thesis deployed through 2 states:

State 1: An overview of the results of the proposed state of environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism

State 2: The stage of forming a group of experts, then through two rounds

of interviews including sending questionnaires and analyze the results, the results of state 2 are the set of criteria and indicators before test

The research states will be applied the following analysis and data collection methods:

3.2.2 Methods of general information collection

- Desk Study: This method is used to carry out an overview of research related to the topic, find information about the study area, learn analytical

Research theories on tourism and

sustainable development

Researching works in the country and the world on generating environmental criteria and indicators

Draft criteria and indicators for monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism for round 1

Set of criteria and indicators of sustainable tourism assessment for round 2

State 1

State 2

techniques, discuss research issues and present research reports, and especially applying previous studies on the environment in sustainable tourism development in countries around the world from which to inherit and adjust to suit practical conditions in the study area

- Qualitative research:

+ Expert consultation: This is a method that plays an important role in the implementation of the topic, conducted in many states including consultation to select research methods, developing a set of evaluation criteria, and collecting expert judgment on the importance of the criteria

+ Interview using the questionnaire: This method is implemented with the testing of the set of criteria after it has been developed Respondents will be officials of the environmental and tourism authorities of Ba Vi District, officials

of Ba Vi National Park and tourist business in the area Since then, the research team has reviewed and adjusted the evaluation criteria and survey This method

is implemented with testing and evaluating the set of criteria after it has been developed

3.2.3 Delphi method

The Delphi method is a separate method that elicits and refines the opinions of the group based on the view that an expert group is better than one expert when exact knowledge is not available This method will create compelling perspectives, ideas, and consensus from a group of experts The Delphi technique is a long-term forecasting method of a prediction set of experts

in different fields To develop the target indicators, apply technical research Delphi is one of the famous qualitative methods and directional techniques for predicting future events through consensus

The purpose of using the Delphi method is to obtain suggestions from experts and whenever there is a possibility to reach a consensus The careful selection of experts who answer the questionnaire in two or more rounds is of utmost importance At the end of each round, the scientist will provide an

anonymous summary of the participants from the previous rounds This action indicates that in the process of processing some criteria or indicators will be removed and there may be criteria that will be included Eventually, the process will stop after the steady-state results are reached by asserting through means and medians (Le Chi Cong, 2015)

This method allows the systematic collection of expert reviews It is a reliable and problem-solving qualitative research method that contributes to decision-making and to reach group consensus at different scales Murry and Hammors (1995) point out four important characteristics of the Delphi method:

- Hiding names of expert group members

- The process of interaction takes place through circles allowing experts to change their point of view

- Feedback controlling: Inform participants about the views of other members and provide an opportunity for the expert team to clarify or change the view

- Feedback results of the group will be processed statistically: The results will allow quantitative analysis and interpretation of data

3.2.3.1 Forming a group of experts

The Delphi method does not allow the selection of an expert group by random methods, which expert group must be built upon careful consideration

of such factors like experience, and appropriate research fields

The four required aspects that will be considered when selecting an expert are knowledge and experience in research areas; skills and willingness to participate; having enough time to participate; and good communication skills The aspect of good communication skills is that the skill does not appreciate when selecting the expert group because the expert group will communicate through the questionnaire Selecting a target group of experts in tourism, community management, ecology, and resource management and have at least 3 years of experience in this field From the above comments, I came up with the idea and formed a group of experts to participate in the first round of 13 people,

in which: 5 staffs from Ba Vi Center for Ecotourism Service and Environmental Education, 5 environmental officers from Ao Vua Joint Stock Company and 3 environmental officers from Dam Long Tourism Company and all of them also have at least 3 years of experience in this field

3.2.3.2 Delphi research process

The Delphi method is applied through two states of questionnaires conducted to collect information Invitations and questionnaires in 2 rounds will

be sent to experts in predefined fields, personal informations and work experience were also collected Experts will be asked to evaluate indicators on a

5 point Likert scale, in which:

1: Completely incapable of rate

2: Inability to rate

3: The ability to rate is not high

4: Ability to appreciate

5: The ability to rate is very high

Round 1: Use an open-close questionnaire in which each expert will list

the criteria and indicators Experts (13 experts) from different fields of study will be required to present the extent to which they agree with a specific indicator related to the issue given by a value that varies from 1 to 5 If experts give value ≤ 3, they will be asked to give their opinion on why such criteria are equal to 3, and at the end of the questionnaire, there will be an open table for experts to supplement the criteria that they consider necessary to evaluate sustainable ecotourism

The data for the results of the first round will be analyzed and then gathered into a questionnaire for the second round This questionnaire will eliminate some criteria and indicators, but also may include some of the indicators given by experts

Round 2: The analyzed questionnaire distributed to all experts- The

expert group participated in round 1 Only nine out of thirteen experts responded

within round 2 The goal of round 2 is to use the questionnaire to reach agreement or stability of the experts Once a consensus or stability has been reached, the Delphi research process will be completed The Delphi method ends if any of these situations occur If all questions in the questionnaire are either accepted or discarded, the mean is higher than 3.5

3.2.3.3 Assessing the agreement of the criteria

To evaluate the consensus of criteria based on 3 measurement criteria: The medians are 4 or more, the Interquartile Range is equal to 1 or less and a Standard Deviation value below 1 on the 5-point Likert scale

To test the consensus level of experts we would apply the Friedman parametric test for K related sample, if the hypothesis is rejected means that the experts' opinion on the criteria set and indicators are not consistent with each other

non-3.2.3.4 Analysis of points

After the end of round 1, the expert's evaluation points will be calculated and gathered into the table including values such as mean (TB), median (TV), Standard Deviation (S), maximum, minimum, and Interquartile Range (IRQ) The research team based on the threshold points of the remaining indicators and based on the combination of indicators (median, Interquartile Range and Deviation Standards) and the level of consensus (Friedman) among experts Only criteria and indicators which satisfy all consensus factors are selected

3.2.4 Statistical analysis

- Analysis tool: Supported software: IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and Excel

- Quantities need to be analyzed: Descriptive statistics, calculating sample characteristic values such as average, median, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, and mid-range (Interquartile Range) - IQR) through quartiles The process and steps of the study are detailed as follows

Calculating the sample feature using the excel tool is the Data Analysis /Descriptive statistics command

• Calculating Quartiles are as follows:

Quartiles are quantities that describe the distribution and dispersion of data sets Quartiles have 3 values, which are the first quartile (Q1), the second (Q2), and the third (Q3) These three values divide a set of data (arranged data from small to large order) into 4 parts with an equal number of observations

The quartiles are defined as follows:

·Sort numbers in ascending order

·Cut the number sequence into 4 equal parts

.Quartiles are values at the cutting position

• Interquartile Range (IQR) is defined as follows:

Q2 is the median of the data

Q3 is the middle value between the median and the highest value of the data set

- Testing hypothesis by Friedman standard: is a non-parametric test used

to replace one-way ANOVA The Friedman test is used when examining the difference in mean values between groups when the dependent variable is measured as a sequence (Likert or continuous) without checking the normal distribution assumption

H0 hypothesis: The point of the experts is no difference

H1 hypothesis: There are differences in the way of scoring for experts The calculation formula is as follows:

Where:

FM: Is the calculated standard value Friedman

N: Number of criteria

K: Number of experts

R: the total rank of K experts

If the calculated FM value is greater than the table look up value, then the

H0 value will be rejected, meaning that the experts give the different points

To calculate the value Friedman test, the subject group using SPSS results will be indicated as follows:

N: Number of assessment criteria

Chi-Square: Calculation value (FM)

Df: Degrees of freedom are calculated by (expert number minus 1)

Asymp Sig If <0.05 accept H0 hypothesis

After designing the final scale, we need to evaluate its reliability and value The most commonly used reliability, expresses internal consistency, and tells the relationship of observed variables in the same scale

- Cronbach’s Alpha test: is an inspection to analyze and evaluate the reliability of the scale Total variable correlation coefficients are the coefficients for the variable "association" between an observed variable in the factor with the remaining variables The purpose of this test is to find out if the observed variables have the same measurement for a concept to be measured or not If Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient:

From 0.8 to nearly 1: a very good scale

From 0.7 to nearly 0.8: good scale

From 0.6 or more: qualified scale

Cronbach's alpha value is calculated by SPSS software given in the following table:

- Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) to assess the reliability of the indicators Statistically, ICC is a descriptive statistic index that can be used to measure quantitative units organized into groups This index will describe the rigor of units within a group While this indicator is considered as a type of index, but unlike other related measures, these metrics are structured in group form rather than structured into pairs of comparison as the case of the correlation coefficient) In addition, the ICC index is used to assess the degree of consistency, in this case, applied to assess the reliability, not to assess the consistency

To calculate ICC values, I study the application of SPSS software, which uses the Analysis / Scale / Reliability Analysis / Statistics

To test the model using a two-way test according to the mixed trend, because this way of scoring cannot be used randomly, it must be based on the specific conditions of each indicator, for the type of inspection used for absolute Agreement but not check consistency because it is possible that groups of experts in different fields will consistently score high but average values do not reach credibility

The results in the table will use the Average Measures - which means whether the average values of the experts will be reliable or not Single Measure

will be suitable as a calculation index if only 1 person is used for scoring This index is generally less reliable than using the average index of many experts The third and fourth columns are the upper and lower bound values of the measurement index, equivalent to the 95% confidence level

Absolutely high dependability

The value of ICC is similar to the correlation coefficient; the absolute value is in the range of 0 - 1

Cicchetti (1994) gave a scale for the ICC index as follows:

Less than 0.40 - poor

From 0.40 to 0.59 - Moderate

From 0.60 to 0.74 - Good

From 0.75 to 1.00 - Very good

A rule of thumb is that researchers try to compare from 30 cases (questions) and at least 3 people when they want to apply research on reliability (HarunaDanladi Musa et al., 2015)

CHAPTER IV RESULTS 4.1 Current situation of tourism development in Ba Vi District

4.1.1 Tourism development potential

Ba Vi is one of two prominent eco-tourism destinations of Hanoi Capital

Ba Vi has a prominent advantage with Ba Vi National Park, one of six national parks with high biodiversity levels and a system of rivers and lakes surrounding the Ba Vi mountain area There are many beautiful natural landscapes such as mountains, hills, forests, waterfalls, streams, rivers and lakes, along with famous scenic spots (Ho Ha, 2018) Visitors to Ba Vi easily get lost among the magnificent landscapes of waterfalls, jungles and grass fields The region is known for its tourist resorts such as Khoang Xanh, Suoi Tien (the Fairy Stream),

Ao Vua (King Pond), and the Tan Da spa resort (Bui Thi Minh Nguyet, 2012)

According to the statistics, visitors to Ba Vi are increasing day by day, as shown in the table below:

Table 1 The number of tourists in 2016-2018 in Ba Vi District

(Source: Cultural and Information Department of Ba Vi District, 2019)

Because of knowing its advantages, Ba Vi District has mobilized resources to invest in infrastructure, developed types of ecotourism, spiritual culture, community Thanks to that, in the past years, the number of visitors to

Ba Vi has been increasing, in 2016 the number of visitors to Ba Vi reached 2.600.000 visitors, the revenue from tourism reached 260 billion, in 2017 the number of visitors to Ba Vi reached 2.665.000 visitors, business revenue from tourism reached 276 billion, an increase of 4% over the same period in 2016 In

2018, the number of visitors to Ba Vi reached 2.830.000 visitors, the revenue from tourism reached 336 billion In particular, the development of tourism has

created stable jobs for thousands of workers, contributing to increasing incomes for people, especially 7 communes in mountainous areas of Ba Vi District Although in recent years, the number of tourists coming here next year has increased over the previous year, but tourism activities are still spontaneous and mainly serve domestic tourists Visitors to Ba Vi mainly go in the day and organize themselves as the main

Do Manh Hung, Deputy Chairman of the Ba Vi District People's Committee said Ba Vi has attracted 15 community-based and ecotourism investors, and the district is creating the best conditions for them (Phuong Van, 2018)

Table 2: List of tourism business in Ba Vi District, Hanoi

No Name of Tourism

1 Ao Vua Joint Stock

5 Tan Da Joint Stock

Company Van Hoa Ta Ngoc My Sales@tandasparesort.com.vn

6 Ho Tien Sa Tourism

Agency Tan Linh Banh Anh Tuan Hotiensabv@gmail.com

7 Ba Vi Resort Tan Linh Vice Director:

Do Huu The vqgbavi@gmail.com

8 Suoi Hai Union

Nhanghisuoihai@congdoanhanoi.gov.vn

10 Long Viet Joint

Stock Company Van Hoa Le Trung Tuan

Ifo@dulichlongviet.com.vn

11 Ba Vi Homestead Van Hoa Ngo KieuOanh Trangtraidongque@gmail.com

12 Family Homestay Mai

Village

Nguyen Thi Hong Loan

Familyresort88@gmail.com

13 Detrang Farm Tan Linh Do Hong Khanh detrangfarm@gmail.com

15 HaNoi Paragon Hill Van Hoa Nguyen Tien

Son

infor@hanoiparagonhill.vn

(Source: Cultural and Information Department of Ba Vi District, 2019)

4.1.2 The main types of Ba Vi Tourism

4.1.2.1 Eco-tourism

Focusing on products such as sightseeing, research, and exploration of landscape and ecological values Ba Vi is bestowed with a wild beauty of rivers, streams, mountains, and forests with a diverse and rich ecosystem suitable for eco-tourism development Around Ba Vi Mountain, Suoi Hai Lake has established famous tourist areas known as: Ba Vi National Park, Khoang Xanh Suoi Tien, Ao Vua, Thac Da, Thien Son Thac Nga, Dam Long- Bang Ta, Doi Co- Ngoc Nhim Tan Da Resort, Thuan My hot mineral water

4.1.2.2 Leisure Tourism

Ba Vi District is a place with great potential to develop leisure tourism, making it can completely turn leisure tourism into a key tourism industry for the district tourism industry, bringing high economic efficiency for the district in particular and the country in general Because of a special privilege of nature, which is an important condition for Ba Vi District to build famous tourist resorts

such as Tan Da Resort, Ba Vi Resort, Family Resort, Yen Bai Resort, Top Hill Resort, Ao Vua, Khoang Xanh - Suoi Tien Resort, Dam Long Resort These are places with beautiful scenery, fresh natural environment, airy, diverse ecosystem, with very stable climatic conditions, cool all year round The annual average temperature is 23.4°C, which is an extremely ideal condition for tourists

to visit, enjoy the scenery and relax Moreover, Ba Vi District also has a hot mineral water source of Tan Vien belonging to Tan Linh and Thuan My communes This mineral water has the effect of treating, beautifying and improving human health This is an extremely advantageous condition for Ba Vi District to develop leisure tourism combined with medical treatment

4.1.2.3 Community-based tourism

Mr Bach Cong Tien, Chairman of Ba Vi District People's Committee, said: In order to develop tourism in association with improving the lives of ethnic minorities in Ba Vi mountainous communes in a sustainable way, Ba Vi District People's Committee directed functional agencies to survey and build many effective tourism development models in Ba Vi district, especially building a pilot model of community based tourism activities associated with agricultural production areas, by household or household group, from there replicated in this direction In that spirit, people will directly participate in serving tourists through community-based tourism activities; providing homestay accommodation services: Ba Vi Homestead, Lai Farm Ba Vi, Family Homestay…

4.1.2.4 Spiritual cultural tourism

Focus on types such as visiting historical relics, trade villages, festive tourism The complex of Thuong Temple, Trung Temple, and Ha Temple on Tan Vien Mountain is the destination of tourists on cultural tourism, national identity and spiritual tourism These are attractive tourist destinations, helping us learn about ancient Vietnamese cultural values and ethnic roots

4.1.3 Challenges for tourism development of Ba Vi District

The results achieved in recent years show that tourism in Ba Vi District has achieved positive results To achieve it, with the goal of expanding the activities of spiritual tourism, ecotourism, and leisure tourism in association with traditional festivals, the District People's Committee has directed broads and localities to coordinate with businesses to organize tours to communal houses, temples, and pagodas during the festival At the same time, organizing tours associated with cultural events, major holidays of the nation and the district to attract tourists However, there are still shortcomings such as unsustainable development, limited planning of tourism development potential of the region With the increasing density of tourism in Ba Vi District but the lack of proper attention to environmental protection in tourist areas as at present, there is a risk

of environmental pollution such as pollution of domestic waste of customers, pollution of domestic wastewater Mr Tien said that the tourism businesses mainly rely on exploiting what is available from nature Excessive impact on nature reduces the impact of ecology, environment causing discomfort for tourists Along with that, the awareness of preserving the natural landscape of tourists in tourist areas is not high, and the policy mechanisms have not been strengthened The cause of the limitations is due to human resources, infrastructure, promotion, embellishment of monuments and landscapes that have not been given adequate attention

4.2 Generating environmental criteria and indicators in monitoring and assessing sustainable tourism in Ba Vi District, Hanoi, Vietnam

Based on the results of fieldwork, and reference documents as Assessment

of sustainable tourism development: Community-based tourism in Lac Village (Hung Nguyen, 2018), A Guidebook of indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations, I have generated a set of environmental criteria and

indicators for sustainable tourism development in Ba Vi District The total has 7 criteria including 44 indicators The results are shown in the following table:

Table 3: Recommended criteria and indicators for consultation with experts on sustainable tourism monitoring and evaluation in Ba Vi District,

Hanoi, Vietnam in round 1

1 Treatment of wastewater from tourism activities 1.1 To organize the treatment of wastewater in the tourist business reaches the

standards in TCVN 5945-1995 before discharging it into the environment

1.2 The volume of wastewater generated by tourism activities in Ba Vi District

(m3/year)

1.3 Percentage of wastewater from tourism resorts that are treated

1.4 Percentage of tourism facilities that have a wastewater treatment system (suitable) 1.5 A number of pollution events reported each year (in months) in the receiving waters

2 Management of solid waste from tourism activities 2.1

Total amount of waste generated in Ba Vi District (tons/person/year) due to tourism activities

2.2

Organizing the collection of waste in tourist business reach standards of TCVN 5945-1995 before discharging into the environment

2.3 Having a waste collection system on average or there is at least 01 garbage bin

with a lid over 300m along the internal roads

2.4 There is an average of at least 01 garbage collection area of the tourist area 2.5 There are measures to increase waste collection when at the time of travel 2.6 Use specialized high-tech support tools (using chemicals allowed to treat

pollution, waste treatment, etc.) in appropriate areas

2.7

Having a separate waste treatment system in the tourist area or having means of transporting garbage to the local garbage disposal area with a frequency of 1 time/day

2.8 A number of specialized staff or plurality staff responsible for the waste

management of the tourist areas

2.9 The policy encourages the purchasing, usage, and consumption of

environmentally friendly materials, goods

3 Management of air pollution from tourism activities 3.1 Source of emissions

3.2 The number of days exceeds the standard

3.3 Emissions from passenger vehicles: CO, SO2, Pb (m/l)

3.4 Percentage of respiratory problems for 1 year (locals and tourists)

3.5 Number of warnings related to air pollution in Ba Vi District in major

publications and guidebooks

3.6 Using tourist vehicles must meet the environmental protection requirements

prescribed in the Minister of Transport's Decision No 4134/2001 / QD-BGTVT

on December 5, 2001, about technical safety standards and environmental

protection of road vehicles and relevant legal documents

4 Controlling the noise from tourist activities 4.1 Noise level in a tourist area is calculated in decibels (dBA)

4.2 Noise from passenger vehicles (based on dBA)

4.3 Number of complaints received in 1 year

4.4 Enterprises shall apply the regulations on coordination in the management of

noise and noise in cultural activities and cultural services

5 Management of visual impact of facilities and infrastructure

5.1 The total length of a travel destination

5.2 Number and size of travel signs

5.3 Quality in watching the night sky (in natural areas)

5.4 The number of standard public toilets serving tourists in functional areas and

major attractions

5.5 The density of buildings in the resort per hectare

5.6 Percentage of tourism facilities and infrastructure that is appropriate or

coordinated with the local culture

5.7 Percentage of locations removed for tourism development

5.8 The number of indigenous trees removed for tourism development

6 Conserving biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural landscapes

6.1

The situation of purchase, sale and use of rare and precious animals and plants prescribed in Decree No.18/HĐBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers prescribing the List of rare and precious forest plants and animals and the regime of management, protection and the Government's Decree No.48/2002/NĐ-CP of April 22, 2002 about amending and supplementing the list of rare and precious wild plants and animals, promulgated together with the Decree No.18/HĐBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers prescribing the List of rare and precious forest plants and animals and the regime of management, protection and their products for ornamental purposes, food, medicine or souvenir

6.2

Illegal transport of rare and precious animals and plants prescribed in Decree

No 18/HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers prescribing the list of rare and precious forest plants and animals and the management and protection regime and the Government's Decree No 48/2002/NĐ-CP of April

22, 2002 about amending and supplementing the list of rare and precious wildlife and plants promulgated together with Decree No 18/HĐBT of January

17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers defining the list of rare and precious forest