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In this issue:
Ecotourism Laos Wins Planeta.com's Ecotourism Spotlight Award
Tigers in Trouble in Myanmar
Ho Chi Minh City 5th International Travel Expo (ITE HCMC)
Phu Quoc Island to Become Economic and Eco Tourism Hub
CST Seminar takes aim at educating tourism professionals
Mekong River Delta facing multiple threats
News in Brief
Tap New Markets at www.ExploreMekong.org
Learn, Share, Engage at www.MekongTourism.org
Go Social with Mekong Tourism
Ecotourism Laos Wins Planeta.com's Ecotourism Spotlight Award
Votes for the 2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award have been counted and the winner for the third year in a row, is
Ecotourism Laos.
The
Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong placed a close second in its first year of consideration for the award.
"We're extremely proud of our showing.
This is our first year of consideration for the award and would like to thank everyone who voted for us. Congratulations to Ecotourism
Laos on their win," said Mekong Tourism Executive Director Mason Florence. "The increased attention they bring to ecotourism issues in the
Mekong region ultimately benefits both our organizations."
The award will be presented in celebration of World Tourism Day (September 27) as a way of spotlighting best practices in
responsible travel and ecotourism. The award was developed to help create dialogue and reward participation among government leaders
working toward ecotourism and responsible travel. Government websites educating visitors about ecotourism and responsible travel options
were eligible to win Planeta.com's third annual Ecotourism Spotlight Award.
Other nominees for this year's award included Quito Visitors' Bureau and Failte Ireland.
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Tigers in Trouble in Myanmar
Tigers in Myanmar continue to be threatened by human pressure, and more effort is
needed to stop poachers from targeting big cats, especially in Kachin State's Hukaung Valley. Dr Alan Rabinowitz, president of New York-based
conservation group Panthera, noted this in his recent trip to Myanmar.
The Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve was established by the
government in 2001 as the country's largest wildlife reserve. It is currently 8452 square miles in size and one of the largest protected
forests in the world.
Mr. Colin Poole, the Asia program director of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which works in the reserve,
said the Myanmar government was doing good work to protect wildlife in the area, even with the drop in the tiger population.
Poaching is the most significant of the three main dangers facing tigers in the reserve. Other threats include habitat loss
and reduction of food sources. Dr. Rabinowitz noted stopping poaching of tigers without taking steps to improve the welfare of communities
located within the boundaries of the wildlife sanctuary, would be extremely difficult.
Source: The Myanmar Times
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Ho Chi Minh City
5th International Travel Expo (ITE HCMC)
The Mekong Region is again on display as Ho Chi Minh City hosts the 5th
International Travel Expo. This year's editions will be held from October 1-3 at the Phu Tho Exhibition Center.
ITE HCMC has become an indispensable platform for both international and local participants to showcase a diverse range of
tourism products and services from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. ITE HCMC is regarded as Vietnam's foremost tourism trade fair and is considered
a National Event by the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
ITE HCMC 2009 is the travel hub of the region providing convenient travel lines to unveil charms of Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam as one combined destination.
Visitors to Vietnam are overwhelmed by its lush landscape, the Mekong Delta in the south and the Red River Delta in the
north. Vivid green rice paddies front a horizon complete with mountains and forests, while breath-taking beaches rim the coast as limestone
karsts just offshore, seem to float in the mist. Cambodia's inspired architecture, sculpture and design is inherited from the Khmer empire and
is evident everywhere, including the awesome Angkor Wat just outside Siem Reap.
Finally the warm Laos culture, where everything - language,
religion and art – reflects the influence of Buddhism, welcomes travellers home. Laos has two stunning World Heritage sites, namely the
ancient city of Luang Prabang and Wat Phou.
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Phu Quoc Island to Become Economic and
Eco Tourism Hub
Providing the island residents approve the proposal, Phu Quoc Island will become an economic and eco-tourism hub by 2030.
The Southern Urban and Rural Planning Institute under the Ministry of Construction, has asked Kien Giang Province People's
Committee to review and approve the proposal. The institute has planned to develop key areas including urban, forest protection,
tourism and transportation on the island and expects a significant population increase from the current 100,000 people to 530,000.
Nearly 40,000ha will be reserved for urban areas including the three main areas – Duong Dong, An Thoi and the science urban
area, which will be expanded to 3,570ha, 677ha and 537ha respectively.
The main tourism areas will be located in the so-called "golden land", and include the island's best beaches of Thom, Cua
Can, Vung Bau, Dai, Rach Tram, Rach Vem and Ong Lang. Other projects would include ports, industrial parks, golf courses and a
casino.
Phu Quoc is Veitnam's largest island with an area of 59,300ha. It is well-known for its pristine beaches and forests.
Source: Viet Nam News
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CST Seminar takes aim at educating tourism professionals
MTCO Executive Director Mason Florence was among the participants at a recent capacity-building seminar entitled The Protection of Children in
Tourism: A Shared Responsibility, held on 9-10 September at the Grand Sukhumvit Hotel Bangkok.
The two-day seminar was organised by ECPAT (www.ecpat.net)
with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and was well attended by representatives from leading hotels, in addition to
officials from ECPAT, the Royal Thai Police and other organisations working to combat child sex tourism (CST).
Session topics included the unique position of tourism professionals to prevent CST, the development and enforcement of
child-protection policies and procedures within a company, collaboration with law enforcement and the judiciary and working for a solution to
CST in a multi-stakeholder setting. The interactive event and involved activities from brainstorming sessions to actual role playing involving
a suspected sex offender with his under-aged victim attempting to talk his way past a concerned hotel receptionist.
The meeting also learned about The Child Protection Code, an internationally recognised code of conduct for the protection of
children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. To learn more visit www.thecode.org.
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Mekong River Delta facing multiple threats
Rising sea levels and industrial pollution pose big problems for the Mekong Delta. Professor Dao Cong Tien, former head of the HCM City
Economics University, says if the sea level rises by one meter, one-third of Vietnam's Mekong Delta will be underwater and nearly 20 million
people will have to co-exist with salt water.
On the other hand, Tien adds, if dikes are built to prevent the encroachment of salt water, there will be huge construction
costs and the delta will be seriously polluted by industrial wastewater. The self-cleaning mechanism of local rivers will be useless and the
delta will surely become entirely polluted as wastewater can't flow into the sea. Nearly 30,000 kilometers of rivers and canals in the Mekong
Delta could become dead waterways.
Some areas in the Mekong Delta are experiencing heavy pollution because of closed dike systems and sewers designed to prevent
salt water intrusion. Both the Go Cong peninsula in Tien Giang province and the area around Ca Mau City in Ca Mau province are cited as
problem areas.
The Mekong Delta has many industrial zones and over 200 industrial complexes. These facilities discharge more than 50 million
cubic meters of industrial wastewater and over 220,000 tonnes of industrial garbage annually. Seventy percent of which, is untreated.
Scientists say that the pollution of the Mekong Delta is serious but the delta doesn't have a comprehensive plan to solve the
problem. Meanwhile, according to the industrial development plan for the Mekong Delta, the total area taken by industrial zones will reach
31,500 hectares in 2010 and 50,000 in 2020.
"If one-third of the delta's area is flooded by sea water, losses would be huge. But if the entire delta is polluted by
wastewater, the losses could be many times higher," Dung said.
Source: VietnamNet Bridge
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Angkor Wat Revenues Down 20%
Revenue from ticket sales to Cambodia's main attraction Angkor Wat fell almost 20 percent in the first half compared to last year.
Officials blame the global economic downturn, poor weather and political unrest in neighboring Thailand for the drop.
Samchuk Market given UNESCO Award of Merit
Located in Thailand's Suphan Buri province, the Samchuk market received a Unesco Asia-Pacific Award of Merit 2009, beating out
entries from 14 other countries. The market was established over 100 years ago when Chinese vendors first began trading along the
Tha Chin River.
World Tourism Day Celebrates 30 Years
September 27 will mark the 30th anniversary of World Tourism Day, celebrated around the world. WTD was created by the UNWTO to
bring focus to key, tourism related global socio-economic, cultural and political issues. This year's celebration with the theme
of "Celebrating Diversity" will be held in Ghana.
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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!
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