Mekong River flows across Laos (Photo: thousandwonders)
NDO/VNA – Representatives from private and public tourism sectors, social and development organisations, and media agencies from the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) gathered at a forum in the central city of Da Nang on June 15 to discuss measures to promote sustainable tourism development in the region.
The annual forum aims to introduce trends and tourism development as well as seek effective ways to strengthen the tourism industry in the GMS, which boasts the most rapid development in Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
During the five-day event, participants emphasised the importance of boosting connectivity and partnership among travel agencies and tourism sectors in GMS nations to fully utilize the potential of the region and turn it into a unique tourist destination.
Steven Schipani, an expert from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Laos said it is necessary to develop tourism in such a way that benefits the community and ensures environmental protection.
ADB is involved in tourism initiatives in the GMS because it believes that strong tourism management in the region and the sector is supporting poverty reduction efforts and pushing economic growth in GMS countries, he noted.
Statistics indicated that around 52 million tourists visited the GMS in 2013, up 17 percent from 2012. Since 2002, the number of foreign arrivals to the region has increased about 12 percent per year, helping the GMS account for 3 percent of the global tourism market share.
As part of efforts to facilitate win-win economic cooperation among GMS countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, this year’s forum is discussing topics related to culinary tourism, discovery tourism, community-based tourism and transnational culture tourism as well as the use of social media for marketing and luring travellers to the region.
Mekong forum discusses sustainable tourism development Related image(s)
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