Solutions To Improve The Community Tourism Model In Phu Quoc Marine Protected Area

He himself only has an average income of about 20 million/year; until a year ago, the sea crop failed so he could not make a living from this job and mostly just stayed at home and did whatever was called.

- Phu Quoc was previously considered a highly productive fishing ground, however today fishing pressure is much greater than the sustainable ecological level, which has drastically reduced aquatic resources.

(4) Impact – Consequences (IMPACT)

- It is undeniable that in recent years, the general environmental situation has undergone many unusual changes, causing the marine industry to decline. The weather in the 6 months of the Northern season (from November to April of the following year) blows strongly, causing difficulties for crab rafts.

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- Crown-of-thorns starfish are identified by scientists as dangerous predators of corals. Therefore, it is necessary to organize for the participating parties (tourism businesses, soldiers, border guards and the community) to periodically collect crown-of-thorns starfish, as the most effective solution to protect coral reefs in current conditions.

- In addition to the impacts of climate change, there is also environmental destruction caused by human hands. That is: the number of electric fishing vessels and dredgers reduces resources and conflicts with local fishing vessels; snail farming households use fresh food, increasing pollution, negatively affecting the environment when developing more and more in Ham Ninh and Bai Thom communes; illegal fishing in core and buffer zones often occurs; the acts of exploiting, buying and selling, and consuming Dugongs and Sea Turtles still secretly occur...

- According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Phu Quoc district, in 2015, the whole district currently has 4,033 individual business households, 1,654 companies and enterprises, including over 200 motels, hotels and resorts from 1 to 4 stars, motels, tourist accommodations in operation with more than 1,500 rooms and more than 2,600 beds and 60 fish sauce production facilities. According to the calculation of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, every day on Phu Quoc island, wastewater discharged into the environment from production, business, service activities, households and tourists is about 18,000m3 . Although most motels, hotels,

Resorts in Phu Quoc district came into operation after the Law on Environmental Protection (1993) and the environmental protection regulations of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2003); but currently most of them only use septic systems to treat waste; wastewater treatment systems or those that meet standards are very few. Wastewater at most units is collected and then passed through settling tanks, then discharged directly into the general urban wastewater system. Some facilities with large land areas are allowed to seep directly into the natural environment... According to comments from many hotel and resort businesses in Phu Quoc district in dialogues between the People's Committee of Kien Giang province and businesses, most of the coastal tourist areas and hotels in Phu Quoc currently discharge water directly into the sea and are all granted certificates of wastewater sources that meet standards, but in some areas the water source emits a strong stench. In addition, every month, thousands of large and small fishing vessels come to anchor in Phu Quoc sea area and thousands of tourists come to visit... Although in recent years, waste collection and treatment activities have been carried out daily, but with the dumping of waste, oil spills and some businesses and restaurants still brazenly discharging wastewater directly into the sea...

Thus, poverty continues to be closely linked to island communities and the challenge will be to create new forms of sustainable livelihoods that not only improve living conditions but also ensure that the environment is least negatively impacted.

(5) Social Response (RESPONSE)

- Currently, the focus of Kien Giang tourism development strategy is to bring the vision towards the sea. From now until 2030, continue to promote joint venture cooperation with foreign countries, gradually forming a number of large, modern, international-class sea tourism areas that are capable of competing with sea tourism centers of countries in the region.

- Due to the reality of poverty, coastal and island residents have been supported by domestic and foreign organizations to create new forms of livelihoods such as coordinating with the Sustainable Livelihoods Component inside and around MPAs - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Component

LMPA) invests and supports the community to invest in frog farming models; coordinates with the Wetland Alliance Program (WAP Kien Giang Group) to build and deploy the crab bank model in Ham Ninh commune. The participants in the management and operation of the crab bank are fishermen exploiting crab nets in the commune.

- In addition, community-based tourism models have become an alternative form of livelihood that responds well to general development in coastal and island areas.

3.2. Solutions to improve the community tourism model in Phu Quoc Marine Protected Area

3.2.1. Investment solutions, construction of infrastructure, technical facilities

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* Objective: to ensure technical infrastructure conditions for the development of community-based tourism in Phu Quoc Marine Protected Area. Specifically, by investing in upgrading and developing the infrastructure system and technical facilities serving community-based tourism activities, ensuring quality, convenience, and synchronization to meet the needs of tourists.

* Implementation content:

The construction and upgrading of infrastructure and technical facilities for tourism needs to determine the following principles:

- Must achieve optimal efficiency during construction and operation.

- Promote the value and achieve efficiency in using tourism resources, ensuring the best conditions for transportation, sightseeing and resting of tourists.

- Do not break the connection between the values of natural landscape, environment and socio-culture.

- Respect the opinions of the local community.

In upgrading and constructing works to exploit resources for tourism activities, it is necessary to mobilize maximum resources supported by the state, encourage investment participation from private sectors, take advantage of capital from poverty reduction support programs, programs to create new livelihoods for fishing communities and strengthen cooperation with non-governmental organizations.

Electricity and clean water systems are also very important factors in developing community tourism. Although tourism resources are attractive and people are friendly, if electricity and water are not guaranteed, it will be difficult to prolong the stay of tourists.

In addition to infrastructure, technical facilities also need investment support. For households providing accommodation services such as homestays, it is necessary to ensure minimum conditions of space, toilets, bathrooms, and equipment are also neatly arranged, creating typical marks of the life of coastal island residents.

3.2.2. Solutions for propaganda work, raising awareness about the important role of community tourism

* Objective: Attract all community members to participate in tourism activities with support policies, solutions to increase income for all members and a sustainable and fair profit sharing mechanism.

* Implementation content:

- Training for tour guides:

Organize training classes to increase employment for local people: Organize quarterly classes on tourism knowledge and community ecotourism for those interested. But this type of class is best organized in groups of 20 people, with a 45-minute lecture and about 84 hours of practice (2 days/session) on certain days (flexible according to the students' hours).

- Training for managers of relevant departments:

It is important to note that this group of people has a great impact on the development of the industry because their management decisions have a great impact on the development of the industry. And, their detailed understanding of community tourism and how to manage community tourism plays a very important role. Therefore, it is necessary to organize regular seminars on each topic led by an ecotourism expert. Moreover, if any incidents occur, it is also necessary to have the opinions and experiences of all managers contributed to be able to choose the optimal solution.

- Attracting community participation in tourism activities

In planning and managing community tourism activities, information related to the goals, meanings, responsibilities and benefits of community tourism must be conveyed to all members of the community in many different forms. Maintaining regular communication channels and information exchange helps all community members and stakeholders feel that they are part of an organization, participating in the decision-making process until the project implementation process. The process of maintaining these regular communication channels and information exchange can be time-consuming, laborious and costly, especially at the beginning of community tourism development, but in the long run, it will help the local community to operate effectively and confidently based on the existing team structure and regulations.

It is also necessary to have initial support policies for coastal island communities so that people have the conditions to upgrade and exploit their own facilities (houses, means of transport ...) to serve tourism, in addition to organizing training courses on tourism so that the community can participate in professional work such as tour guides (especially in eco-tourism activities), cooking (especially local specialties), housekeeping ... or other jobs such as cleaning, security ...

In order to achieve results in implementing the community tourism model and to limit the disadvantages that the community may have to bear in tourism development activities, especially to reduce the pressure of the community's impact on tourism resources and environment due to exploitation activities for daily life, it is necessary to create opportunities for the community to participate most actively in tourism activities including:

- Orienting traditional production industries of the community to serve tourism activities such as producing rattan handicrafts, snail blinds, net weaving...

- Participate in managing accommodation facilities in the community, welcoming guests, serving their accommodation needs with the support of the Management Board of tourist areas, travel companies and local authorities.

- It is possible to study and apply models of fisheries management and aquaculture based on fishermen's associations and aquaculture associations. Participate in tourism services such as food and beverage, selling local handicrafts, renting basket boats, glass-bottom boats, etc.

- Participate in transporting passengers and goods for guests from the tourist reception center to sightseeing, entertainment, research sites...

- Encourage the community to promote traditional cultural values of the community such as festivals, music... to serve tourism. However, it is necessary to have measures to limit negative impacts on traditional indigenous culture from tourists and the commercialization of these values from tourism organizers and developers.

- Organize production and purchase of food, fruits and agricultural products to serve tourism needs.

From the specific benefits that the community gains through tourism activities, the community will realize the importance of preserving natural and human values in tourism development. Thus, the implementation of the community tourism model will be increasingly effective.

3.2.3. Solutions to protect and create tourism resources

* Objective: To carry out the restoration and conservation of the existing resources of the Marine Protected Area, which are valuable resources contributing to creating a brand for coastal and island community tourism.

* Implementation content:

- Well implement the Master Plan for construction, conservation and promotion of the value of Phu Quoc NKTB to serve as a basis for investment in developing community-based tourism in the region.

- In community-based tourism models in the world as well as in Vietnam, protecting natural resources and the environment is always one of the top criteria. To further develop the effectiveness of community-based tourism models in

Coastal and island villages need specific solutions to resource and environmental issues.

- For the environment and natural resources: Phu Quoc KBTB is one of the current 12 marine protected areas in Vietnam and is one of the core areas of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve with many typical marine ecosystems that have advantages in taking advantage of available tourist resources to develop tourism. However, due to the impact of domestic waste from residential areas, excess pesticides and chemical fertilizers from agricultural production activities, excess food from aquaculture rafts and especially fishing activities, exploitation of coral reefs, seagrass of residents living in the buffer zone of the KBTB, it has directly threatened the biodiversity as well as the habitat (habitat) of many rare species, causing the loss of part of the inherent beauty of Phu Quoc sea. In the immediate future, the island district and the communes where tourism activities are organized need to have measures to raise public awareness of the sense of protecting environmental resources through educational programs. Coordinate with education sectors to include environmental education in the main and extracurricular programs of general education, and regularly organize community meetings. Educational content must be consistent with the customs and cultural lifestyle of local people, using the method of simplifying the language and converting it into a language that ordinary people can understand. Specifically:

+ Raise awareness of the subjects about the values of natural resources, natural ecosystems, rare natural reserves, conservation of unique landscapes, and local endemic species.

+ Education on environmental ethics and environmentally friendly behavior for both locals and tourists. Regarding implementation methods, depending on the level of understanding of each different subject, there will be the most suitable educational method. For example, for students in coastal areas or on islands, it is possible to integrate the curriculum with extracurricular activities on the environment and tourist attractions; for local people, it is necessary to choose traditional educational methods, focusing on the community.

Whether with tourists or locals, we can both introduce them and explain the environment in their language.

+ In addition, an immediate measure that needs to be implemented is to build trash bins and environmental protection regulations and respect local culture on the tourist routes in the commune with the principle of being environmentally friendly, there needs to be technical solutions that are important in minimizing waste sources and handling environmental pollution. Establish specialized waste collection teams (can be divided into areas managed by organizations such as the Youth Union, Women's Union or can mobilize households to directly participate in regular cleaning in residential areas). Tourist destinations should arrange trash bins along the road on the journey of tourists.

- In addition to natural values, traditional cultural values of coastal island areas also need to be protected and preserved, and promoted by specific measures such as:

+ Build and organize competitions to learn about traditional dishes and local identity. This is also an opportunity to introduce to tourists, and these are also events that attract the attention of tourists and locals.

+ Research and restore the traditional culture of the islanders: festivals, dances, songs, poems about the island. Build folk art teams to attract the participation of all households in the communes, regularly organize exchange sessions to learn from experiences. This is the core art team for the cultural and artistic movement of the commune and will be the art team participating in performing for guests.

+ Learning about local traditional occupations creates economic development opportunities for the people.

3.2.4. Solutions to promote community tourism in Phu Quoc Marine Protected Area

* Objective: Introduce and provide information about community-based tourism to domestic and foreign markets to attract more and more visitors to know and participate in this model in coastal island areas. At the same time, bring community-based tourism activities to integrate early in a way

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