Developing cultural and eco-tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park

INTRODUCTION

1. URGENCY OF THE TOPIC

Tourism is an economic sector that was formed later than other economic sectors; however, this is a rapidly growing economic sector, accounting for an increasingly high proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries. Currently, tourism is considered one of the leading economic sectors in the world, and is considered a smokeless industry [36].

Directive 46/CT-TW of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam, 7th term, in 1994, identified "Tourism development is an important strategic direction in the socio-economic development policy to contribute to the industrialization and modernization of the country" [9]. Resolution of the 9th National Party Congress in 2001 also identified: "Tourism development truly becomes a spearhead economic sector" [10] .

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Quang Binh is a province with very diverse and rich potential for tourism development. Famous natural landscapes such as: Nhat Le Beach - Dong Hoi, Da Nhay Beach - Bo Trach, Bang Hot Mineral Spring - Le Thuy. In particular, the World Natural Heritage Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is one of the places with diverse natural resources, biodiversity, geomorphology and historical culture, with great potential to develop many types of cultural and ecological tourism (VHST) to attract visitors, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the locality.

On September 1, 2008, the People's Committee of Quang Binh province issued Decision No. 38/QD-UBND on promulgating the Quang Binh tourism development program for the 2006-2010 period, which identified the general objectives as:

“…Focus on effectively exploiting potential strengths to develop tourism into an important and breakthrough economic sector of the province, contributing to growth and economic restructuring towards gradually increasing the proportion of tourism and services in GDP, creating more jobs, increasing income for workers and communities, increasing budget revenue, creating premises for other industries to develop.

- Develop tourism in a sustainable manner, preserve national cultural identity, protect the environment, preserve ecology, ensure security, order and social safety. Promote the socialization of tourism, raise awareness of the community and mobilize resources for investment in tourism development.

- Improve the quality and diversify tourism products and services; create unique tourism products that are highly competitive and attractive to tourists. Enhance the position of Quang Binh tourism domestically and internationally; gradually build Quang Binh not only as a stopover for domestic and foreign tourists but also as an attractive, unique and hospitable destination…”[33].

Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park has a lot of potential for tourism development, especially cultural and ecological tourism. Since Phong Nha Cave was put into tourism exploitation (in 1995), the number of visitors has increased many times. Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park has truly become an attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign visitors. Tourism development has created many jobs for local people in the buffer zone communes, contributing positively to the socio-economic development of the locality.

In the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is identified by the General Department of Tourism as "Phong Nha - Ke Bang Cave Ecotourism Area" as one of 31 specialized tourist areas in the country [29].

After the event of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park) being recognized as a World Natural Heritage by the International Committee for Culture, Science and Education (UNESCO) (July 2003), the number of visitors increased dramatically (the number of visitors in 2004 compared to 2003 increased by 68.5%), but from 2005 to now, the number of visitors here has fluctuated unevenly. The tourism potential of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park is very large, but currently, only investment and exploitation of tourism types such as visiting Phong Nha cave, Tien Son cave, other types of tourism have not been invested in and exploited, tourism products are still very monotonous, the quality of supporting services is not high. The planning work is slow to implement, so it has not attracted social resources to invest in developing tourism types and products.

As an officer working at the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board, seeing the urgency of the problem, I chose the topic: "Developing Cultural and Ecological Tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park" to research for my Master's Thesis in Economics.

2. RESEARCH WORKS RELATED TO THE TOPIC

There have been a number of articles, research topics, and seminars related to the potential and tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park such as:

- World Natural Heritage Workshop Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park with the Central Heritage Road organized by the Department of Trade and Tourism of Quang Binh in 2004.

- Sustainable Tourism Development in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park - PhD Thesis

Doctor of Tran Tien Dung.

- The dossier proposed UNESCO to recognize Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park as a World Natural Heritage for the first time with the criteria of geomorphology and geology, and the second time with the criteria of "Biodiversity".

- Workshop "Sustainable tourism development of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park" organized by the

The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) in collaboration with the People's Committee of Quang Binh province organized in 2006.

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

* General goals

- Evaluate and propose some orientations and solutions to develop cultural and ecotourism at the World Natural Heritage - Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, gradually diversifying tourism types and products, contributing to accelerating the speed of tourism development in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in particular and Quang Binh province in general in the coming years.

* Specific goals

- Focus on theoretical research on the development of cultural and ecotourism, principles and requirements for the development of ecotourism, the development situation of ecotourism in national parks; experience in developing cultural and ecotourism in the country and some countries in the world.

- Assessing the current status of cultural and ecotourism activities of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in recent years.

- Proposing orientations and solutions for developing cultural and ecotourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park until 2015.

4. OBJECTS AND SCOPE OF RESEARCH

* Object

- Focus on researching and providing solutions for developing cultural tourism - eco-tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park.

* Scope

- Spatial scope: Research on the current status of cultural and ecotourism activities in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, some community-based support services at Phong Nha Visitor Center, Son Trach Commune, Bo Trach District.

- Time scope: Research on the current status of cultural and ecotourism activities in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park from 2003-2008, orientation and proposed development solutions until 2015.

5. RESEARCH METHODS

5.1. Data collection method

5.1.1. Secondary data

Collected from Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park Management Board, Cultural and Ecotourism Center, Department of Culture - Sports - Tourism, Bo Trach District Statistical Yearbook, Quang Binh Province Statistical Yearbook to evaluate the fluctuations in indicators and results of cultural and ecotourism activities during the period from 2003 to 2008.

5.1.2. Primary data

Collected from the survey of data from 151 tourists visiting Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park from February to March 2009, processed on SPSS software to obtain analysis results to evaluate the level of satisfaction of tourists with the quality of current cultural and eco-tourism services.

5.2. Synthesis method

Using the synthesis method to systematize collected documents as a basis for analyzing and evaluating the situation of infrastructure investment, development of supporting services, and tourism performance results.

5.3. Analysis method

- Using descriptive statistics, economic analysis and mathematical statistics to determine the fluctuation trends of indicators related to the investment development process and results of cultural and sustainable tourism activities in the past time.

- Using descriptive statistical analysis methods and factor analysis to analyze and evaluate the level of tourist satisfaction with the quality of current cultural and sustainable tourism services.

5.4. Expert and monographic methods

During the process of writing the thesis, in addition to the above methods, I have collected opinions from experts and managers related to the management and protection of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, experts working in the tourism sector, as a basis for drawing conclusions that are accurate, scientifically and practically based, feasible and highly convincing, as a basis for proposing solutions for developing cultural and ecotourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in the period of 2009 - 2015.

6. STRUCTURE OF THESIS

In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion , the Thesis is divided into 3 Chapters.

- Chapter 1: Theoretical and practical basis of the research problem

- Chapter 2: Current status of cultural and ecotourism activities in the National Park

Phong Nha - Ke Bang

- Chapter 3: Orientation and solutions for developing cultural and ecological tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park 2009 - 2015.

CHAPTER 1

THEORETICAL BASIS AND

PRACTICE OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

1.1. BASIC ISSUES ON CULTURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

ECOLOGY

1.1.1. Concepts of tourism

Tourism, because it is approached from many aspects, also has many different understandings.

Different perspectives on tourism, here are some concepts of tourism according to popular approaches.

According to this approach, “Tourism is the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the interactions between tourists, businesses, governments and local communities in the process of attracting and welcoming tourists” [28].

For the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), “Tourism includes all personal activities of traveling to and staying outside of one's usual place of residence for a period of not less than 12 months for the following purposes: leisure, sightseeing, entertainment, business, adventure, discovery, sports, ... and other purposes excluding the purpose of earning daily income” [21].

Definition of the University of Economics in Prague (Czech Republic) “Tourism is a set of technical, economic and organizational activities related to human travel and stay outside their usual place of residence for various purposes, excluding the purpose of professional activities and regular organized visits” [12].

The definition of the international conference on tourism statistics in Otawa, Canada took place in June 1991: "Tourism is the activity of a person traveling to a place outside his usual environment, for a period of time less than the period specified by the tourism organization, the purpose of the trip is not to make a profit within the area visited" [12, 40].

According to Michael Coltman (USA), "Tourism is the combination and interaction of 4 groups of factors in the process of serving tourists, including: Tourists, tourism service providers, local residents and the government of the place welcoming tourists" [41].

According to the Vietnam Tourism Law, "Tourism is activities related to human trips outside their regular place of residence to meet the needs of sightseeing, learning, entertainment, and relaxation within a certain period of time [20].

Ecotourism , according to the International Ecotourism Society: “Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” [27].

Vietnam Tourism Law defines ecotourism as follows: “Ecotourism is a form of tourism based on nature, associated with local cultural identity with community participation for sustainable development [19].

Cultural tourism is a form of tourism based on national cultural identity with community participation to preserve and promote traditional cultural values [19].

1.1.2. Development and conditions for tourism development

Development is understood as a growth process of many different constituent elements of economy, politics, society, culture, science - technology...; This is the inevitable natural trend of the material world in general and human society in particular. Socio-economic development is the process of improving the quality of life both materially and spiritually by developing productive forces, production relations, improving the quality of education, quality of life, preserving and promoting cultural values. To reflect the true and objective nature of development, in addition to economic indicators such as GNP (Gross National Product), GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and average income per capita, it is necessary to supplement other indicators such as HDI (Human Development Index), HFI (Human Freedom Index) [8].

Developing cultural and ecotourism is investing in material and human factors to exploit tourism based on cultural products, traditional festivals, customs, beliefs, natural resources, biodiversity, thereby creating attraction for local tourists and tourists from all over the world, creating many jobs, promoting the tourism industry in particular and the economy in general to develop, preserving intact natural resources and historical and cultural values [40].

Conditions for tourism development Tourism development requires certain necessary objective conditions, including general conditions and specific conditions. General conditions can be divided into 2 groups.

* Group of general conditions for the development of tourism activities such as:

- People's free time. To have a travel itinerary requires people to have time, so free time is a necessary condition for people to participate in tourism activities.

- The material living standards and general cultural level of the people are high. When people want to travel, they must have a large source of expenses to cover their travel expenses. If there is no abundant financial resources, savings, and accumulation, there will be no funds to travel. Therefore, the increasingly high material life will create conditions and opportunities for people to travel more and more.

When the cultural level of people is improved, the motivation to travel increases significantly. The number of tourists increases, the desire to learn and get acquainted with places near and far also increases, the habit of traveling will be formed more and more clearly. On the other hand, if the general cultural level of the people of a country increases, when developing tourism, that country will easily serve tourists in a civilized way and satisfy tourists more, promoting the development of tourism in that country.

- Developed traffic conditions. Participating in tourism, people need to move from one place to another, through many different means of transport. The more developed the traffic conditions are, the more modern and convenient the means of transport in a country or region are, the more tourists will be attracted to that country or region.

- Peaceful and stable political atmosphere. This is a condition to ensure the expansion of political, economic, cultural, scientific and technical relations between countries and regions. If a region is at war or in conflict, people there will have difficulty traveling abroad, and vice versa, tourists from other countries will also have difficulty coming to that country, safety will not be guaranteed for tourists so they cannot travel to these places.

Developing cultural and eco-tourism in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park - 1

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