Ecotourism in Vietnam: Potential and Reality

Tourism in Vietnam creates a lot of income and it is a boost for the local economy. On the other hand, tourism is a problem for the environment, particularly the biodiversity of nature.

In recent years Vietnam is promoting ecotourism because it is both sustainable and have economics benefits. The government of Vietnam is learning about infrastructures with less impact and encourages tourists to keep in safe the local culture and environment.

A big attraction of ecotourism in Vietnam is the Coastal reef that has a particular natural ecosystem with thousands of protected species and it is a reason to promote and improve this specific ecosystem.

Vietnam, environmental impact

Halong Bay, Sapa and Hanoi are typical examples of the Vietnamese policies about tourism.

Tourism is an added value of the Vietnamese economy, it creates a lot of jobs and it supports the local families. It is estimated that the 10% of the success of the economic policies comes from the tourism sector.


The other face of the medal concerns the environmental problems of this policy.
The Halong Bay welcomes a number of visitors too high to be sustainable for the local ecosystem and the environmental should be damaged.

The heritage area is 1500 sq. km. and there are 2,000 mile islands at present. This large area might not be visited no more if there will be restriction concerning the introduction of people in this area.

In particular, these are the main problems about the environment in Vietnam: greenhouse gases, deforestation, desertification, acid rains, water pollution and also pollution cause by transport services.


Acid rains contain levels of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rains are damaging and potentially deadly to the earth's fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using the pH scale.
People who live in Hanoi are scared because the 30% of the rain are acid and this percentage grow continually. In some areas in Vietnam, this percentage is more than 50%.


In Hanoi there is another important problem: pollution. Every day, Hanoi has concentration of pollution, noises and aromas caused by car or by public transports. These type of transportation creates also lots of traffic and congestion. Instead of only few people want to use bicycles to go around the city or for admire the beautiful landscape.

This enormous natural heritage is decreasing caused by the deforestation and the desertification.
The first takes destruction of vast areas of forest without planting new growth, for example the Bay of Halong that is an area where there are a lot of rains and then, forests, could contain the waters and avoid problems of floods.
The second creates lots of desert conditions in arid or semi-arid areas, due to overgrazing, loss of agriculturally productive lands, or climate change.

Halong Bay

The Bay of Halong is an unmissable destination for who want to visit Vietnam, but you must be aware that it is a destination full of visitors.

The Bay of Halong is one of the most visited destination in Vietnam and so it stormed by thousands of visitors.






In fact, Vietnam is subject to a serious event, that is “un-sustainable” tourism. For example, these are the main problems that we can associate to the Bay of Halong:


The presence of cruise ships are spoiling the landscape; in fact, while you are enjoying the beautiful landscape you will be interrupted from the arrival of numerous boats that produce an hard impact on the environment.

The Bay of Halong is always crowded: if you are few on the boat and you can enjoy the breathtaking landscape, once you arrive in your destination you will find a lots of people that cause problems, for example the important cave in Halong that has a ceiling made with concrete to avoid the erosion that can be provoked by the presence of tourists.

There are too many tourists on the beach that spoil the landscape and so you can’t enjoy the nature as you want.

Sitography

http://www.indexmundi.com/vietnam/environment_current_issues.html

http://www.cese-m.eu/cesem/2015/05/il-rapporto-tra-sviluppo-economico-e-degrado-ambientale-in-vietnam/

http://omissisnews.com/vietnam-la-miniera-a-cielo-aperto-non-risparmia-la-baia-di-halong-icona-turistica-e-patrimonio-dellumanita/

http://www.asianews.it/notizie-it/E%E2%80%99-l%E2%80%99inquinamento-la-maggiore-preoccupazione-degli-abitanti-di-Hanoi-14178.html

http://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/Viet+Nam.html

http://fringeintravel.com/baia-di-halong-quali-i-contro-di-una-delle-7-meraviglie-naturali-vietnam/

http://www.tourism-review.com/mass-tourism-threatens-ha-long-bay--news3340

http://kyotoreview.org/issue-2-disaster-and-rehabilitation/ecotourism-in-vietnam-potential-and-reality/