With Vietnam's strong tourism growth, the country's key challenge is now how well can the country manage its tourism products to handle visitor growth effectively, and still ensure satisfaction.
In recognition of these challenges, the Government of Vietnam has declared Responsible Tourism as the overarching goal for the future development of the sector and is calling for all players to accept responsibility for managing tourism, and to establish effective mechanisms to do so.
While some initiatives have already started such as the "Green Lotus" environmentally responsible standards for hotels and advancements in the establishment of Responsible Tourism groups, more can still be done.
With the help of the ESRT Programme, the first Annual Conference on Responsible Tourism was held in 2012, resulting in the articulation of a series of policy statements on Responsible Tourism. ESRT will now work with key stakeholders to further develop and complement these recommendations in order to deliver a Responsible Tourism Policy for Vietnam.
The Vietnam Responsible Tourism Policy will facilitate the mainstreaming of Responsible Tourism into the principles and practices of national, provincial and local level stakeholders to ensure tourism planning and development has greater sustainability and reduced negative impacts on the Vietnamese people and the environment. With a consideration of governance structures, better means for co-ordination and co- operation, the policy will clearly recommend priority actions that should be implemented in order to make sure that Vietnam is a great place to visit and to live in.