During its development, APEC member economies, including Vietnam, have been facing numerous challenges, especially climate change. According to United Nations World Tourism Organisation, tourism contributes to global warming, and, at the same time, is a victim of climate change.
Vietnam is among top five countries most affected by climate change. In Vietnam, coastal erosion, salt instrusion and other extreme weather events have badly damaged relic sites and heritages, causing dramatic impacts on tourism activities.
The APEC High level Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Tourism held recently in Quang Ninh province adopted a high level declaration on sustainable tourism development which includes recommendations and specific directions for sustainable tourism development in the APEC region.
During the dialogue, representatives from APEC economies and tourism organisations have exchanged experiences to develop tourism in the context of climate change.
In order to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, experts said, it is neccessary to improve communications to raise awareness of environment protection and sustainable tourism development among people and enterpises.
Issues concerning sustainable tourism development within the APEC region are expected to be on the table at the APEC Economic Leaders’ week which will take place in the central coastal city of Da Nang from November 6 to 11. -VNA
