Building a green tour route in Cu Lao Cham Island - Hoi An

Hoi An City People's Committee has just decided to approve the Outline of the task of building a green tour route in Cu Lao Cham, Tan Hiep commune with the aim of promoting and guiding the practice of green tourism at tourist accommodation establishments, restaurants, souvenir shops, and tourist attractions to form a green tour route in Cu Lao Cham.

Hoi An builds green tour route to Cu Lao Cham

In 2021, Hoi An City People's Committee issued Project No. 3603 on "Developing Hoi An tourism to 2025, orientation to 2030".

Recently, the city also approved the list of tasks to implement the project "Developing green tourism in Hoi An to 2025, with a vision to 2030" in 2024, in which, the task of building green destinations for 3 destinations including Cu Lao Cham, Thanh Ha Pottery Village and Tra Que Vegetable Village is set.

Increasing the number of green destinations helps develop tourism products from inner-city to suburban areas, expanding the scope of tourism exploitation, contributing to creating the unique features of Hoi An city'stourism industry.

The red cornflower season on the island becomes a tourist-festival event attracting visitors to Cu Lao Cham.

In fact, the conversion of the model to green tourism orientation and building green destinations encounters certain difficulties.

Currently, tourism businesses are focusing on business to overcome the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the implementation of the Green Tourism Criteria, which requires a determination to change thinking, orientation and business methods, has not been prioritized.

Besides, destinations in Hoi An city in general and Cu Lao Cham in particular are lacking many resources and conditions to be recognized as green destinations according to the criteria set by Quang Nam province.

In 2009, Cu Lao Cham was recognized by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserve. With its biodiversity and favorable climate, Cu Lao Cham is increasingly becoming an attractive destination for tourists when coming to Hoi An.

Livelihoods in Cu Lao Cham fishing village come from tourism activities such as travel services, accommodation services, tourist transportation and food and beverage business, souvenirs at the site,... and from fishing activities, providing products for tourism activities (seafood fishing).

Currently, there are 34 businesses participating in the travel business on the Hoi An - Cu Lao Cham route, with 75 boats and ships capable of transporting 3,000 passengers per day.

Community-based tourism development models have been effectively implemented such as: Community participation in coral reef restoration model, community participation in waste classification at source model, community model saying no to plastic bags, etc. thereby encouraging people to participate in the process of developing green tourism on the island.

Tourists staying at homestay in Cu Lao Cham

Despite its great potential, the infrastructure in Cu Lao Cham has not developed commensurately to exploit tourism effectively. The duration of the tour program is short, within a day, limiting deep communication between tourists and the local community.

Tourism businesses have not really paid attention to helping tourists access historical sites and traditional craft villages.

The small scale of tourism activities and inconsistent service quality also hinder tourists in accessing and using tourism services.

A garbage collection point in Cu Lao Cham

The current tourism problems that Cu Lao Cham is facing include: There has been no survey or assessment of the current status of green tourism at the destination.

Although many agencies and organizations support and implement environmental and ecological protection work at tourism service establishments, due to lack of coordination and synchronous implementation, it leads to waste of resources and low efficiency.

Most businesses in Cu Lao Cham are small, lacking resources to implement green tourism practices.

Tourism activities have brought significant income to the people of Cu Lao Cham thanks to the government's orientation towards community tourism development.

“Therefore, the implementation of the construction of a green Cu Lao Cham tour route towards the goal of becoming a green destination is an urgent task, contributing to the successful implementation of the Project “Developing tourism in Hoi An city to 2025, with a vision to 2030”; at the same time, providing lessons for replicating the Green Destination model in the city”, said Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh - Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee.

In 2024, the traditional craft of weaving parasol hammocks will be recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

The specific goals of the plan are: 4-5 homestay businesses are recognized as meeting green tourism standards; 3 travel agencies on the Hoi An - Cu Lao Cham route are recognized as meeting green tourism standards; 5 tourist attractions are recognized as meeting green tourism standards according to the Quang Nam Green Tourism Criteria.

50% of souvenir shops; 50% of restaurants at Ong beach, Chong beach, 5 restaurants at Lang beach; Cua Dai tourist wharf operator, Guest reception house at Chong beach practice green tourism.

The 4 contents to be implemented include: Assessing the current status of green practices on the tour route and business establishments subject to implementation in Cu Lao Cham; Guiding green tourism practices; Preparing dossiers to request recognition of homestays, travel agencies, and tourist attractions; Communicating about the Cu Lao Cham green tour route; Summarizing the results of plan implementation.

Khanh Chi

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/du-lich/xay-dung-tuyen-tham-quan-xanh-tai-dao-cu-lao-chamhoi-an-113827.html