|
In this issue:
PATA Gold Awards Handed out in Hangzhou
WWF Identifies 163 New Species in the Mekong Region
Cambodia and Vietnam Continue to Open Borders
Rural Pollution Levels in Vietnam Called "Alarming"
Rare Development Land Overlooking the Mekong, For
Sale!
News in Brief
Tap New Markets at www.ExploreMekong.org
Learn, Share, Engage at www.MekongTourism.org
Go Social with Mekong Tourism
 |
|
MTO Executive Director Mason Florence (centre) receives PATA Gold Award from PATA CEO Greg
Duffell (right) and Joao Costa Antunes, Director Macau Government Tourism Office |
PATA Gold Awards Handed out in
Hangzhou
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) presented their 2009 Gold Awards at the PATA Travel Mart in Hangzhou on September 25. The
Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong (www.ExploreMekong.org)
won the award for "Best Marketing Media-Web Site".
Mekong Tourism Executive Director Mason
Florence commented, "This is a big honor for us. Having industry peers recognize our hard work is extremely rewarding." Mason added,
"Receiving an award like this helps boost recognition of the work being done in the Mekong, as well as shedding light on important issues
that still need to be addressed."
The Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong was initially inspired by 'The Guide to Responsible Tourism in Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam', a publication of the Mekong Tourism Development Project (MTDP). The Guide was funded by the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia, the
Lao National Tourism Administration and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism with assistance provided by the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) as part of a MTDP initiative to support sub-regional cooperation for sustainable tourism
The Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong was ultimately developed with assistance from the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID)'s ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) Project. The site was developed as part of its technical
assistance to ASEAN- and Mekong-region tourism cooperation and integration.
This year's PATA Gold Awards program attracted 236 entries from 120 organisations worldwide. Each PATA Gold Award is judged
by a panel of industry experts. Click for the
full list of this year's winners.
TOP
WWF Identifies 163 New Species in the Mekong Region
The WWF issued a list that included a psychedelic gecko and a fanged frog with a taste for birds, in its recent report of previously unknown
species, all found within the Greater Mekong Region. The list includes 100 new plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and
one bird.
 |
|
Rough Coated Tree
Frog
Photo Provided by WWF. |
The Greater Mekong Region consists of the countries through
which the Mekong River flows: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province of China. With 16 eco-regions (areas defined by
shared ecological features and animal communities) the Greater Mekong has more protected spaces than anywhere else on mainland Asia, according
to the WWF.
The diverse species and habitats of the Greater Mekong region continue to face a wave of growing threats, including habitat
loss, infrastructure development, and unsustainable and illegal natural resource use. As a consequence as little as 5% of the region's natural
habitats remain intact. Climate change is compounding these threats.
According to the WWF report, Climate change is having a significant impact on the Greater Mekong's biodiversity. The region
is experiencing more frequent and damaging extreme climate events such as droughts and floods. In addition climate change is responsible for;
altering the availability of freshwater; limiting species ranges; and changing the timing of migration and flowering. Combined with
non-climate threats, these changes gravely threaten many of the region's unique species -- including some of the newly discovered species on
the list.
Click here to read the
WWF New Species Discoveries report.
TOP
Cambodia and Vietnam Continue to Open Borders
Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed to open three more border gates later this month and early next month to meet the increasing numbers of
passengers and goods being transported between the two sides.
The border gates are those between; Xa Mat of Vietnam's Tay Ninh province and Trapeang Phlong of Cambodia's Kompong Cham
province, Tinh Bien of Vietnam's An Giang province and Phnom Den of Cambodia's Takeo province, and Ha Tien of Vietnam's An Giang province and
Lork Kam Pot of Cambodia's Campot province.
With the three new border gates, the two countries will have five border gates for automobiles at which to enter and exit,
under the bilateral agreement on transport which was signed in 2005.
Source: VNA
TOP
Rural
Pollution Levels in Vietnam Called "Alarming"
Experts are warning that the pollution levels in Vietnam's rural communities are rising at an alarming rate, due to increased development of
agriculture sectors and the economy overall.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat admitted the rural environment had been
polluted and groundwater and soil degraded in many areas. Growing crops, which contributed US$9 billion to the country's exports last year,
has been one of the major causes of pollution.
Most areas in the country favor intensive farming and multiple cropping to increase output. This has increased pests like brown plant-hoppers,
stunt rice plants and rolled leaves disease in rice-growing areas in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta and sugarcane areas in the central region.
Livestock farming is also to blame for the situation, producing 74 million tonnes of waste every year, only 40 per cent being
treated before being released. According to Hoang Kim Giao, director of the Animal Breeding Department, the country has around 16,700 animal
farms and millions of households raising animals but only 1,700 of them have waste-treatment facilities. This type of pollution can lead to
outbreaks of bird flu, blue ear pig disease, and foot and mouth disease.
Environmental protection is one of the country's three main goals along with economic and social development. Minister Phat
said rural environmental problems must be settled by deploying national-level measures to ensure sustainable development of agriculture. His
ministry is preparing a set of standards for managing rural environmental issues.
Source: Vietnam News
TOP
Rare Development Land Overlooking the Mekong, For Sale!
Yourantai owners are searching for development partners as a small neighboring cemetery adjoining the Yourantai property is being moved by the
municipal government. Possibly the last piece of land left in the vicinity of Jinghong, the area is surrounded by a diversified tropical
forest and owns an amazing view over the Mekong (see photo).
Authorities plan to keep this land "green" and are discouraging huge concrete buildings there, however
they will consider offers from local developers, and estimate the price of the land at about 2.3 millions RMB, ( about the current price for
land to be "developed"). That's approximately 230'000 EUR or 340'000 USD. This is a prime piece of land but the price is too steep for
Yourantai owners alone. A Yourantai extension will require additional work and funds, hence the search for a partner. Foreign ownership is
welcomed as Yourantai itself is foreign-owned.
Jinghong is developing itself into a regional transportation hub. There are currently 10 to 15 flights daily to Kunming, and
plans to restart international flights to Thailand and Laos, shortly. The new freeway to Kunming and high-speed road to Laos and Thailand are
now open, as well there are passenger boats to and from Thailand, on the Mekong River. The future Kunming-Bangkok railroad is also planned to
pass through Jinghong too.
Interested partners are urged to contact Yourantai through their website at
www.yourantai.com.
TOP
NEWS IN BRIEF
Luang Prabang to get New Airport
Construction of the new Luang Prabang airport will begin next year and is expected to be operational by 2013, said Khampheng
Saysompheng, Vice-Governor of Luang Prabang province.
Ketsana hits Vietnam and Cambodia hard
Having just punished the Philippines, Typhoon Ketsana moved inland and hammered Vietnam and Cambodia. At time of this issuance, 70
people were reported dead.
Thai PM Urges World Leaders to Tackle Climate Change
Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit gave a keynote speech at the opening of a two-week meeting with world leaders in Bangkok focused
on climate-change negotiations prior to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December.
TOP
|
Tap New Markets at www.ExploreMekong.org
MTCO's consumer-facing website
www.exploremekong.org will be a key
platform for marketing the Mekong region as a premier tourism destination.
Through www.exploremekong.org the
MTCO offers Mekong-region tourism stakeholders a valuable opportunity to dabble in online distribution for the first time, or
expand upon their existing web-based channels.
Minimum conditions apply for private-sector inclusion in the website's booking engine. Sponsorship and advertising
opportunities are also available.
For more information on the marketing opportunities offered by
www.exploremekong.org, please email
exploremekong@genaresasia.com.
Learn, Share, Engage at www.MekongTourism.org
The MTCO's website at www.mekongtourism.org
is quickly developing into an indispensable resource for anyone interested in tourism development: development partners, NGOs,
students, teachers, policy makers, and the travel trade.
Bookmark www.mekongtourism.org for
convenient access to the proceedings of
MTCO's GMS
workshops and other resources
pertaining to sustainable tourism development, especially the MTCO's priority themes of conservation, poverty alleviation, human
resource development, and tourism corridor enhancement.
To contribute your own tourism development news, opinions, and resources to
www.mekongtourism.org, please email
content@mekongtourism.org.
Go Social with Mekong Tourism
Help MTCO tap into and expand its social media networks: Follow "Explore Mekong" on
Twitter, join our "Mekong Tourism" groups on
Facebook,
LinkedIn and
Plaxo, and help
us represent the GMS on The "Good Tourism" Wiki!
TOP |
|
