Some Difficulties and Suggestions for Sustainable Marine Eco-tourism in Vietnam and Japan: Case Studies of Vân Đồn District, Quảng Ninh Province and Akkeshi Town, Hokkaido
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract. The paper deals with the difficulties in developing sustainable marine eco-tourism based on analysis of current situation in two case studies inJapan andVietnam.AkkeshiTown is located in the northeastern part ofHokkaido, where the natural resources are abundant, such as the Ramsar inscribed wetland, the existence of big mammals such as seals. However, the town is facing the decrease in the number of visitors after a high expectation in the 1990s due to an out-of the way place. Vân Đồn District, on the other hand, is a new and prospective project in the government’s policy to stimulate the economy of the coastal zone of Quảng Ninh. It owns a national park that offers a lot of natural resources but a proper way is yet to be found to make it conform with the exploitation of tourism industry. Besides the diversity in geographical features, it is also the habitat of some kinds of tortoises and other special animals. Nevertheless, both cases have similar paradoxes in tourism development, first from the objective contexts (e.g. the competition with their neighboring areas that have quite similar natural resources) and secondly, from the subjective paradigms (e.g. the high seasonableness and dependency on natural conditions). How to minimize the difficulties to support the development of ecotourism is the question that needs correct answers. Based on the authors’ experience in tourism industry, some solutions are suggested, including co-operation within local tourism, the proactive leadership of local government, the business model for sustainable management, as well as considering the interaction relationship between mass tourism and ecotourism as a solution for current development.
Keywords: Ecotourism, sustainable tourism, tourism management, Vietnam, Japan.References
[2] Tran Thi Mai Hoa, Ecotourism development in Japan and possibility for application in Vietnam - a comparative study. PhD thesis at Kansai University, 2012.
[3] Phan Nguyen Hong, Quan Thi Quynh Dao, Le Kim Thoa, Ecotourism in Vietnam: potential and reality. In APO (ed.) Linking Green Productivity to Ecotourism: Experiences in Asia-Pacific Regions, Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization, 2002.
[4] Quach Mai Hong, Ecotourism case studies in Vietnam. In APO (ed.) Linking Green Productivity to Ecotourism: Experiences in Asia-Pacific Regions, Tokyo: Asian Productivity Organization, 2002.
[5] ICEM, Lessons learned in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, Review of Protected Areas and Development in the Lower Mekong River Region. Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia, 2003.
[6] Jimenez, J. Garcia-Herrera (n.d.), Handbook of ecotourism in Protected Areas of Vietnam. Fundesco. http://www.mekongtourism.org/website/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/02/Handbook-of-Ecotourism-in-Protected-Areas-of-Vietnam.pdf (last assessed on May 20th, 2012).
[7] Le Van Lanh (ed.), Bai Tu Long National Park, Youth Publishing House, Hanoi, 2008 (in Vietnamese).
[8] Suntikul W., Butler R., and Airey D., Implications of political change on national parks operations: doi moi and tourism in Vietnam’s national parks. Journal of Ecotourism 9 (2010), No.3.
[9] Ubukata, Hidenori, Toward ecotourism in which nature experience and nature conservation are harmonized, Kushiro Ronshu, Journal of Hokkaido University of Education at Kushiro No.28 (2006) 171-179 (in Japanese).
[10] Weaver D. and Lawton L., Twenty years on the state of contemporary ecotourism research, Tourism Management 28 (2007) 1168-1179.