“Food safety and security towards sustainable green tourism, shifting from awareness to action”

On July 16, Brand and Product Magazine in collaboration with the People's Committee of Sam Son City; Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination Office organized a workshop: "Food Safety and Security towards sustainable green tourism: Shifting from awareness to action".

Attending the workshop on behalf of Thanh Hoa province were: Mr. Ha Van Giap, Chief of the Office of Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination of Thanh Hoa province; Mr. Le Doan Luong, Head of the Department of Culture and Information, People's Committee of Sam Son city; Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, Deputy Head of the Department of Tourism Management, Department of Culture - Sports & Tourism of Thanh Hoa province; Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Thanh Hoa province.

On the side of organizations, associations, experts, and speakers attending the program, there were : Mr. Cao Thien Tam - Chairman of the Sam Son City Business Association; Mr. Pham Hai Quynh, Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute (ATI), Chairman of the Vietnam Community Tourism Association (VCTC); Mr. Nguyen Dang Sinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection (VATAP); Dr. Le Van Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Food Safety Science and Technology; Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Tourism Association; Mr. Pham Loc Ninh - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Natural Products Science, Director of the Institute for Anti-Counterfeiting and Commercial Fraud Techniques.

On the organizing side, there are : Journalist Nguyen Viet Hung - Editor-in-Chief of Brand and Product Magazine; Journalist Tran Thanh Tuong - Secretary General of Brand and Product Magazine.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Province Tourism Association, delivered a welcome speech at the Workshop.

Speaking at the Workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Province Tourism Association said: Thanh Hoa is a province in the North Central region, where there are many famous landscapes, historical relics, along with long coastlines and famous beautiful beaches such as Sam Son, Hai Tien, Hai Ha... This is an important premise for Thanh Hoa to develop a comprehensive "multi-sector, multi-field" economy, in which tourism increasingly accounts for a large proportion in the province's economic structure.

Resolution of the 18th Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Congress, term 2015-2020 determined to strive to make tourism an economic sector with a high proportion in the province's service economy, in line with the requirements and development trends of the country.

At the 19th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025 and Resolution No. 58-NQ/TW dated August 5, 2020 of the Politburo on building and developing Thanh Hoa province to 2030, with a vision to 2045, it was determined that "tourism is a spearhead economic sector".

In recent years, Thanh Hoa has focused on attracting investment in many fields, including tourism, tourist attractions, and tourist areas and spots to have better service quality. The province has also paid attention to and created all favorable conditions in terms of administrative procedures and legal corridors for businesses to come; at the same time, the province has also invested a lot of capital in transport infrastructure to connect to tourist destinations and routes. Currently, the province also has many large projects that have been and are being invested in localities, urgently supporting investors to complete tourist areas and spots as well as resorts early to achieve better quality.

Thanks to the efforts of authorities at all levels, Thanh Hoa tourism industry is growing. In 2023, the total number of tourists to Thanh Hoa reached 12,485,000, an increase of 13.1% compared to 2022, reaching 104% of the 2023 plan. Of which, international tourists reached: 616,200, 2.5 times higher than in 2022, reaching 100.2% of the 2023 plan. Total tourism revenue reached 24,505 billion VND, an increase of 22.2% compared to 2022, reaching 101.3% of the 2023 plan.

In the first 6 months of this year, Thanh Hoa province welcomed nearly 9.8 million visitors, an increase of 16% over the same period in 2023. Total tourism revenue is estimated at nearly 20,000 billion VND, an increase of 30% over the same period. Of which, visitors to Sam Son accounted for more than 65% of the total number of visitors to Thanh Hoa, the rate of staying guests increased by more than 30% over the same period.

Thanh Hoa's tourist destinations that are highly appreciated by tourists are Hai Tien (Hoang Hoa), Hai Hoa (Nghi Son town) and especially Sam Son - the coastal city. In 2023 alone, Sam Son welcomed nearly 8 million visitors, equal to 112.8% compared to the same period in 2022, reaching 109.7% of the plan - considered one of the units welcoming the most tourists in the country; serving more than 15 million tourist days. Total revenue from tourists is estimated at nearly 14.3 trillion VND. These extremely impressive numbers in 2023 have made Sam Son continue to be included in the list of new outstanding destinations in Vietnam, attracting increasing attention from domestic and international tourists.

At today's workshop, delegates will evaluate the advantages, difficulties and obstacles in the process of developing Vietnam's tourism in general and Thanh Hoa tourism in particular. This is also an opportunity for leaders of Thanh Hoa province, leaders of Sam Son city and agencies and units to receive opinions from experts in tourism development in order to innovate, create, increase effectiveness and efficiency in management and business towards sustainable green tourism.

I wish all distinguished guests good health, happiness and success; and a successful conference.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Department.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Department said:

In recent years, sustainable economic development associated with green growth and green tourism has received increasing attention, becoming an important development direction for many countries in the world, including Vietnam. Experts say that developing green tourism helps affirm that Vietnam is no longer an emerging destination, but a competitive tourism-developed country.

In fact, in recent times, our country's tourism has made great strides in both the number of visitors and revenue in both international and domestic markets.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 6 months of 2024, international tourists to Vietnam reached more than 8.83 million, an increase of 58.4% over the same period in 2023. Domestic tourists are estimated at 66.5 million. Total revenue is estimated at about 436.5 trillion VND. Thus, the number of visitors in the first half of the year has reached 50% of the annual target of 17 - 18 million.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Thanh Hoa province delivered the opening speech at the Workshop.

Thanh Hoa tourism plays an important role in the development of Vietnam's tourism industry. In the first 6 months of 2024, the whole province welcomed nearly 9.8 million visitors, an increase of 16% over the same period in 2023. Total tourism revenue is estimated at nearly 20,000 billion VND, an increase of 30% over the same period. Of which, visitors to Sam Son accounted for more than 65% of the total number of visitors to Thanh Hoa, the rate of staying guests increased by more than 30% over the same period.

The above figures show that the tourism industry is increasingly contributing significantly to the economic structure of Vietnam in general, Thanh Hoa and Sam Son in particular. Especially in the context of the current difficult economic production. Therefore, tourism development is a right direction, contributing to the development of the regional economy, increasing income, and improving people's lives.

Currently, the issue of food hygiene and safety at tourist destinations is not only a concern for tourists but also a concern for the entire tourism industry and local authorities. Because not all tourist establishments ensure good food hygiene and safety in food services, especially at tourist destinations and festivals... The use of banned chemicals in farming and processing agricultural, aquatic and food products has not been effectively prevented, so the source of raw materials for food services is difficult to ensure good food hygiene and safety.

Experts say that with its diverse and comprehensive benefits, green tourism is becoming an important development direction for Vietnam’s tourism industry. However, to develop sustainable tourism, the issue of food safety needs to be thoroughly resolved.

Therefore, Brand and Product Magazine in collaboration with the People's Committee of Sam Son City and the Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination Office organized the Workshop: "Food Safety and Security towards sustainable green tourism: Shifting from awareness to action" is suitable for current practice.

For the success and quality of the Workshop, I would like to ask delegates to contribute their opinions and practical issues that businesses and localities face, in order to clarify the issues raised by the Workshop.

First: Current status of food safety in tourism development.

Second: Difficulties and obstacles in tourism activities related to food safety issues.

Third, propose solutions to help develop the tourism industry, towards sustainable tourism.

And other related issues.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I would like to sincerely thank the agencies, departments, branches, delegates and all comrades who have coordinated to organize this important Conference.

I would like to declare open the Workshop “Food Safety and Security towards Sustainable Green Tourism: Shifting from Awareness to Action”.

I wish you, comrades and delegates, good health, happiness and success.

Mr. Pham Hai Quynh - Director of Asia Tourism Development Institute (ATI), Chairman of Vietnam Community Tourism Association (VCTC)

According to Mr. Pham Hai Quynh - Director of Asia Tourism Development Institute (ATI), Chairman of Vietnam Community Tourism Association (VCTC): Developing a green tourism model requires compliance with a series of criteria to ensure that tourism activities are not only environmentally friendly but also bring sustainable benefits to the local community and economy.

To develop a green tourism model, it is necessary to pay attention to factors such as: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before starting any project; need to protect local ecology, especially endangered animals and natural habitats; apply policies to reduce, reuse and recycle waste, limit the use of disposable plastic; should use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind or small hydropower.

In addition, use water-saving devices, do not discharge pollution into natural water sources. It is especially necessary to raise awareness, inspire, educate the community and preserve and promote traditional cultural values ​​of the locality.

Sharing at the workshop, Mr. Ha Van Giap, Chief of the Office of Food Safety and Hygiene, said that dirty food is the leading cause of cancer in Vietnam. Cancer has been and is a burden for families and society around the world as well as in Vietnam.

Mr. Ha Van Giap, Chief of Office of Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination of Thanh Hoa province, speaking

According to Globocan (Global Cancer Organization) 2022 data just announced in early March this year, worldwide there are about 19.9 million new cases and 9.7 million deaths, in Vietnam there are about 180,400 new cases and more than 120,000 deaths due to cancer.

According to experts, the number of cancer cases has increased rapidly in recent years due to three main reasons: dirty food, polluted environment, and increased life expectancy. Of these, dirty food is the leading factor, accounting for about 35%, tobacco 30%, genetics only 5-10%, and the rest are other causes.

Nowadays, dirty food appears a lot, consumers have difficulty in identifying, difficult to distinguish between dirty food and clean, safe food. Some causes of dirty food are:

Biological agents: Including bacteria, viruses, parasites in food.

Food that has been processed but is not hygienic or food that has been processed but not properly preserved, allowing insects (flies, flies...) to land on it, will transmit disease-causing microorganisms to humans if eaten.

Chemical agents: Most food-related causes of cancer come from this group of agents.

Faced with that situation, Thanh Hoa province, the Provincial Party Executive Committee issued Resolution No. 04/NQ/TU on strengthening the Party's leadership in ensuring food hygiene and safety in the province until 2020, Conclusion 624-KL/TU dated October 4, 2021 on continuing to strengthen the Party's leadership in ensuring food hygiene and safety in the province until 2025.

The Chief of the Office of Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination of Thanh Hoa province proposed a solution for the State management agency.

Firstly: Strengthen management based on issuing specific regulations on food safety standards for hotels and restaurants serving tourists; Require hotels and restaurants to commit to implementing the set regulations on quality food ingredients, hygiene conditions of equipment, environment and service staff.

Second: Raise awareness and responsibility of enterprises, production and business establishments, and service providers regarding the content of ensuring food security and safety.

There are appropriate sanctions for businesses that violate regulations, may cause or have caused food poisoning to tourists, affecting the reputation and image of the Vietnamese tourism industry.

At the same time, Mr. Ha Van Giap also made recommendations for food production and business establishments and catering services.

First: Strengthen information, propaganda, education and training on food safety knowledge for relevant staff, especially those who prepare and serve food to tourists.

Second: Strengthen control of food ingredients and water sources used at facilities. Food ingredients have stable origin and can be traced when needed.

Third: Strictly control the processing area, the kitchen must be designed and built according to the one-way principle, with a door for raw food ingredients to enter and a door for processed products to exit. The floor, ceiling, and walls must be built according to regulations.

Fourth: Strictly control food processing machinery, equipment and utensils. Food processing machinery, equipment and utensils must be made from specialized materials and not contaminate the food during processing.

Fifth: Control the means of transporting raw materials and food products during the service process. Hotels, restaurants and food processing establishments need specialized means of transport, used only for transporting raw materials and food products.

Sixth: Control labor protection and personal hygiene of food processors.

Saturday: Control the customer service process.

In short, it can be said that ensuring food security and safety is currently an urgent and important issue for the socio-economic development process in particular and tourism in general. It contributes to promoting Vietnamese culinary culture to tourists, friends around the world and international integration, while also protecting the health of tourists and attracting tourists to Vietnamese cuisine.

To do this well, it is necessary to have the drastic and strong participation of Party committees, authorities, organizations at all levels, businesses, restaurants, hotels and the community to gradually change from awareness, thinking to action in ensuring food security and safety and contributing to building the culinary culture of Thanh Hoa in particular and Vietnam in general.

The first discussion session with the topic: "Developing "clean", sustainable tourism on the basis of food security and safety" .

Question 1: The first 4 months of 2024 showed that the whole country had 24 cases with 835 people suffering from food poisoning, 3 deaths and there has been no sign of stopping recently. It can be said that the current food safety management work is only managed at the top, not at the root, that is, when consequences occur, the functional sectors will take action. In industry, the management of finished products is relatively more favorable, but there are still many issues that need to be considered and adjusted, especially in the process of registration, inspection, product monitoring, preservation, etc.

Based on many issues that need to be overcome to overcome current limitations and shortcomings in food safety management in accordance with the actual situation, what do you expect from the Food Safety Law to be added to the Law and Ordinance development program in 2025?

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of Department, Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Department

Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha - Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Food Safety and Hygiene Department: Food safety and hygiene management in Vietnam began with the Food Safety and Hygiene Ordinance 2003, with the Ministry of Health as the focal point for comprehensive management of food safety issues.

After 7 years of implementation, many shortcomings were noted. Based on the consultation of ministries and branches, in 2010 the National Assembly issued the Food Safety Law - the highest legal document to date in food safety work.

Accordingly, the work of ensuring food safety is assigned to three management sectors, including health, agriculture and industry and trade. And the Law has also assigned and decentralized to ministries and sectors to manage throughout from raw materials to product output - quite clear in the issue of decentralization.

However, recently, the number of food poisoning cases has increased dramatically, in the first 6 months of 2024 there were 36 poisoning cases, with more than 2,000 people infected and 6 deaths. Therefore, the Prime Minister issued a telegram requesting to strengthen food safety work.

Reality requires a new, more appropriate Food Safety Law. The National Assembly has assigned the Ministry of Health to amend the Food Safety Law, with a deadline of 2025.

From the perspective of a local manager, Mr. Nguyen Huu Ha hopes that the new law will amend the organizational model: Currently, there are many organizational models, from boards, departments, to branches..., Mr. Ha hopes for a breakthrough in the model, unified nationwide, helping management work to be more synchronous and effective, in the direction of a single focal point. If there is a fear of assignment and decentralization, it is necessary to be clearer about the roles of the parties, helping management work to be more effective, avoiding the situation where one sector blames another sector when food poisoning cases occur, avoiding inadequacies such as two agencies managing the same factory.

If so, the Department is only managing the top, not the root. Therefore, the Deputy Director of the Department hopes that the new law will focus on one apparatus and one focal point. If the assignment and decentralization of authority are assigned to the sectors to participate in management, it needs to be clearer so that the management work is more effective.

Mr. Ha Van Giap, Chief of Office for Food Safety and Hygiene Coordination of Thanh Hoa Province

Question 2: According to the general assessment from management agencies, food safety management has long had many shortcomings and limitations. For example, the current food safety management model is not unified. Management work is currently assigned to three sectors: Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Industry and Trade?

In general, legal documents on food safety have relatively complete regulations, creating a fairly solid legal corridor for state management in this field. However, the application of general regulations to practical production and business activities, especially in the context of the development of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, which is initially forming a digital economy in Vietnam, still has many difficulties and shortcomings, leading to low efficiency in ensuring food safety, the situation of "dirty food" still occurs every day and is increasingly difficult to control.

Many opinions say that, regarding coordination, departments and sectors have coordinated in food safety management but the efficiency is not high. The number of state management documents on food safety is large, issued by many entities, so there is no synchronization between management sectors, sometimes causing difficulties in searching and applying?

Mr. Ha Van Giap, Chief of the Office of Food Safety Coordination of Thanh Hoa Province: Firstly, the issue of the superstructure, the current document has Directive No. 17 of the Secretariat, so management should be centralized at one point. Previously, since 2009, the Food Safety Department was established, in the initial stage of implementation, management was partly at one point, so it was easier to manage.

The Ordinance on Food Safety and Hygiene was issued in 2003, and in 2007 the Food Safety Law was developed. In 2010, Law No. 55 was issued, and it took effect in July 2011. When implementing the Food Safety Law, there were many inappropriate things. Firstly, because it was assigned to various sectors, each sector had its own direction.

For example: The Agriculture sector has Circular No. 17 guiding the management of small-scale establishments. Circular No. 18 guiding the issuance of certificates of eligibility and inspection of establishments under the management of the Agriculture sector. The Industry and Trade sector has Circular No. 13, Circular No. 17. The Health sector has Decree No. 115. I have to grasp all three areas to manage.

In fact, in recent times, there have been many places that have not been suitable for management practices. The Food Safety Department was established in 2009 and has now merged with the Department of Health into one department, making it even more complicated. The management of food safety is decreasing while the problems and challenges of food safety are increasing.

Among the departments, only the Ca Mau Food Safety Management Department has merged three departments into one, we also have that project, I see that the management work has many advantages. Currently, we are establishing 3 inspection teams to inspect in Sam Son. To establish that inspection team, we have to request documents, people, and advice to make a decision, so there are many problems.

Question 3: Mr. Le Van Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Food Safety Science and Technology, from the practice of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP replacing Decree No. 38/2012/ND-CP of the Food Safety Law? Advantages and difficulties in self-declaring products according to Decree 15/2018/ND-CP dated February 2, 2018 after 6 years of implementation?

Mr. Le Van Giang, Chairman of Vietnam Food Safety Science and Technology Association.

Mr. Le Van Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Food Safety Science and Technology, former Deputy Director of the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health said: I think that Decree 15/2018/ND-CP was issued by the Government to give businesses a precious gift that they have long dreamed of. Why are all our products, which we had to make announcements for state approval, now made by businesses themselves? So is it right or wrong, there are both right and wrong, more right than wrong.

It is true that if we continue on the old path, with the main viewpoint being administrative, businesses will suffer a lot, but the downside is that Decree 15 pushes all responsibility onto businesses, and businesses are responsible for themselves from the production and business stages to product announcement.

In life, we cannot publish everything. For example, if we eat rice cakes before they are finished, how can we publish them? We only publish what is circulating in the market on the condition that the technical specifications are confirmed to remain unchanged.

How to make our tourism safe, the State must create something called process management and publish that process.

If we want to do green, clean, sustainable tourism, we must eat healthy, live cleanly, and if we want safety, we must sign with production facilities that have adequate certificates of food origin.

We try to maintain a good business environment. This depends on many factors. We hope that anyone working in tourism will always comply with food safety.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Sinh, Chairman of Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection (VATAP)

Question 4: Mr. Nguyen Dang Sinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection (VATAP), according to experts, in the era of the 4.0 industrial revolution, if anti-counterfeiting technology is not modernized, it will be very difficult to control and prevent the increasingly sophisticated tricks of counterfeit distribution channels, especially in the food industry. What is your opinion on this statement?

Mr. Nguyen Dang Sinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection (VATAP) said: Food is a very important part of tourism development, so it is necessary to pay more attention to food inspection and control.

When traveling, tourists have the need to enjoy the specialties of that local region. To ensure food safety, I think that even these specialties need to be checked and controlled, need to standardize packaging, labeling, and comply with the regulations of the Food Safety Law.

In many production facilities, many businesses have not done well on this issue. The product packaging and labels still have many errors and lack of information, so we have pointed out to businesses to correct them. This also raises the issue that the work of improving local inspection and control needs to be further improved.

Thanh Hoa province currently does not have a Steering Committee on Food Safety. I think that if the Central Government has an interdisciplinary steering committee on Food Safety, Thanh Hoa can also refer to this model, then it can direct. When there are clear working regulations, many tasks can be carried out.

In national digital transformation, I think that managers and businesses have applied digital technology well to manage products from input to output, without the need for recording, making it very easy to control. But digital transformation also gives rise to new commercial activities such as e-commerce, which is complicated to control and inspect, especially with food.

In that reality, the Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection has had many concerns and sought many new technologies. Recently, the Association has found new advanced technologies that comply with the regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Circular 02. In finding technology for product traceability, the Association has found a solution to track a product from production, farming to distribution.

For example, recently with Thanh Ha lychee products, the Association's experts have attached chips to each lychee tree to track from the cultivation stage, so it is very easy to control, and can show all 10 traceability information according to Circular 02. And the Association also added one more information about tax payment - from which state agencies can fully check to trace the origin, meeting the Prime Minister's Directive that e-commerce activities need to declare taxes.

The difficulty is that state management agencies and businesses have done well in the digital transformation story, but consumers do not know how to use it to check the origin of a product. Therefore, propaganda work, raising knowledge and awareness of consumers about traceability need to be focused on - increasing smart consumers.

Mr. Pham Loc Ninh - Vice President of Vietnam Natural Products Science Association, Director of Institute of Anti-Counterfeiting and Commercial Fraud Techniques.

Question 5: The trend of using green, clean, and environmentally friendly products is indeed the current trend, but how can we check, monitor, and properly evaluate the quality of food safety in production and product sources when there are so many products labeled as natural but do not guarantee quality and origin?

Assess the general situation and solutions for products labeled as natural today?

Mr. Pham Loc Ninh - Vice President of the Vietnam Natural Products Science Association, Director of the Institute of Anti-Counterfeiting and Commercial Fraud Techniques: There are many products on the market labeled as natural products, but in reality, they are not necessarily accurate. What is the post-inspection method, whether the standards are guaranteed, whether they are correct, there are still limitations. There have been many seminars on this issue.

Nowadays, life is better, consumers want to use green, clean products, but determining whether the product is clean or not is very difficult. There are products associated with a chain, the responsibility belongs to each ministry.

A natural product, when chemically affected even just a little, cannot be called a 100% natural product.

How to check and evaluate food safety products? Accordingly, we must rely on certain standards, evaluate very clear indicators, and have a process to control those products. A product when manufactured has a whole process, so which step needs to be controlled to ensure it.

Implementing inspection measures, factories have product quality inspection rooms, or inspection teams of competent authorities, which are inspection measures to assess product safety.

When we have good sanctions, plus traceability stamps, we will control product quality better.

The second discussion session with the topic: Sustainable tourism development on the basis of current food security and safety.

Mr. Pham Hai Quynh - Director of Asia Tourism Development Institute (ATI), Chairman of Vietnam Community Tourism Association (VCTC)

Question 1: Supporting and consulting on the development of community tourism projects is a new step in the sustainable green tourism industry. What are the difficulties and obstacles in implementation?

For community tourism sites in remote areas, how are environmental protection and food safety issues implemented?

Mr. Pham Hai Quynh, Director of Asia Tourism Development Institute (ATI), Chairman of Vietnam Community Tourism Association (VCTC): Supporting and consulting on the development of community tourism projects is a new step in the sustainable green tourism industry. However, the overall picture of community tourism today also faces many difficulties and obstacles in implementation. After we oriented tourism as a key economic sector, all places organized many tourism models in parallel. Among them, there are tourism models supported by the government with up to 40 - 50 houses, but none of the houses meet the standards to serve guests. And sometimes people misunderstand that the homestay model is also community tourism, that story destroys the inherent values ​​of indigenous culture.

Although there are many difficulties, the most difficult is that there are models that are built just to gain momentum and results to report. And the more difficult thing is that when implementing the orientation models here, the supporting role of the local government is not yet available. But there are also models that are very grand from the beginning and are supported by the government until they are completed, then bringing the community in cannot solve the problem.

In addition, the problem with developing community tourism models in localities is that people can look and learn from other localities and then apply them to their own, sometimes bringing their own indigenous culture back with them. That creates a similar set of community tourism products, making the development orientation of community tourism not standard. Therefore, the role of local authorities in resolving community conflicts is very important, helping the community take ownership, earn money from that model and helping the local community have a clear direction in each product.

Along with the issue of developing community tourism is developing sustainable livelihoods. This is an extremely important factor to resolve community conflicts. It is possible to orient people in addition to developing local agricultural products for normal consumption, to develop products that can be brought to the market to souvenir products that can bring great value.

I personally think that the story of resolving conflicts between the community participating in tourism and the community specializing in tourism creates a sustainable picture that helps ensure the interests of each party. In particular, when tourism develops, it will help preserve culture, help localities have clean and green products and, more importantly, develop community tourism in a sustainable way.

Mr. Cao Thien Tam - Chairman of Sam Son City Business Association.

Question 2: Along with other localities in the country, tourism in Thanh Hoa province in general and Sam Son city in particular has been invested in and developed into a key economic sector and is increasingly becoming an attractive tourist destination for many domestic and international tourists, bringing in large income for the economy, creating jobs for many workers; promoting the development of service industries, infrastructure, cooperation, and cultural exchange.

What is the Association's responsibility in supporting and connecting businesses to contribute to the province's policy to make Sam Son City a national key tourist city?

Mr. Cao Thien Tam - Chairman of Sam Son City Business Association: Along with other localities in the country, tourism in Thanh Hoa province in general and Sam Son city in particular has been invested and developed into a key economic sector and is increasingly becoming an attractive tourist destination for many domestic and international tourists. That helps bring in a large source of income for the economy and create jobs for many workers, promote the development of service industries, infrastructure, cooperation and cultural exchange.

Perhaps, for businesses doing tourism services in Sam Son City, they are very aware of investing in the tourism sector, which is one of the sectors that Sam Son businesses are extremely interested in. Therefore, the number one priority is that development must be safe, and safety here includes two areas. The first is safety in business, and in business safety, food safety is the top priority.

On the part of the city's business community, in recent years we have realized that tourism service business is the backbone of business production activities. With that awareness, in recent years and especially in 2024, there have been a lot of tourists coming to Sam Son. Thereby, we can see the role of the business community with the tourism community, which is food hygiene and safety for tourists. The local government also pays close attention to this issue, so the awareness of businesses in this issue is increasingly improved.

Currently, in Sam Son City, there are also over 100 establishments operating in the tourism sector inspected by the coordination office, which also shows that the business community is very interested. That is why businesses and enterprises are also aware of food hygiene and safety.

Our business association also hopes that for businesses operating in production and business in general, including tourism services in particular, we always want to respect the law in the issue of food hygiene and safety. At the same time, we also expect the responsibility of state management agencies for food hygiene and safety management activities for tourism activities in particular and food hygiene and safety. From there, it helps businesses move towards the most sustainable tourism development.

Question 3: Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial Tourism Association, as we know, with the reception of nearly 9.8 million visitors and estimated revenue of nearly 20 trillion VND, the "smokeless industry" has become a bright spot in the overall picture of socio-economic development of Thanh Hoa province in the first 6 months of 2024. From the solution orientation to the action that the association is aiming for to develop sustainable tourism in the coming time?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Vice President of Thanh Hoa Province Tourism Association: Currently, Thanh Hoa tourism is developing in two very good directions.

One is the coastal ecological zone, many areas do very well, very effectively. Like Sam Son area, tourism activities are increasingly developing, many visitors come, very happy for Thanh Hoa.

Two developments in the Pu Luong area. Many units are doing it but the scale is not significant. The Association encourages tourism businesses to invest in Pu Luong, which is a very good place for tourism, attracting many foreign visitors.

About Sam Son, this place is growing more and more, the number of visitors is increasing, very potential.

Regarding food safety, hotels and people have been aware and implemented very well, contributing to the development of the province's tourism industry.

Journalist Nguyen Viet Hung - Editor-in-Chief of Brand and Product Magazine

Closing speech of the Workshop Journalist Nguyen Viet Hung - Editor-in-Chief of Brand and Product Magazine affirmed: "After a period of urgent and serious work, the Workshop: " FOOD SECURITY - SAFETY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE GREEN TOURISM: SHIFT FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION" organized by Brand and Product Magazine ended successfully with a series of activities including 2 discussion sessions.

The workshop attracted great attention from society and the business community in the tourism and food industries.

Dear delegates and distinguished guests, with the limited time frame of the Conference, the Organizing Committee and the speakers have not been able to answer all the questions of your businesses. The Organizing Committee would like to receive comments and questions revolving around the issues of the tourism market and the food industry on the Magazine's website and will forward them to experts for answers.

Once again, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, I would like to sincerely thank the delegates, distinguished guests, businesses... for taking some of your precious time to attend our Workshop today. Thank you very much!"

Delegates take souvenir photos

According to Brand and Product Magazine

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