The Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee and Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has recently granted blue sail Eco-label to the first two cruise ships operating on Halong Bay, namely Au Co ship of the Bhaya Limited Company and Secret Ha Long ship of the Bien Ngoc Limited Company.
This is a significant event that promote the efforts in environmental protection and sustainable development ofnot only those two cruise ships but also for the tourism sector of Quang Ninh in particular and Vietnam in general.
According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa Cuong, a JICA’s expert, blue sail eco-lable is granted to tourist boats that meet a number of criteria focusing on environmental protection and social responsibility. Accordingly, the ships which are awarded with the blue sail eco-lable must make great efforts in protecting the environment, using the energy resources in an effectively way contributing to conserving the Halong Bay world heritage site and enhancing sustainable socio-economic development of the province.
In order to be lablled, cruise ships must meet 29 criteria that focus on environmental sustainability, preventing and minimizing noise and air pollution, cutting waste and wastewater discharge, and protecting biodiversity.
The blue sail eco-lable is also one of the criteria reflecting hi-quality of tourist boats operating on Halong Bay. It is a vital factor to raise tourism enterprises’ awareness of the environmental protection on Halong Bay and boost the image of tourist boat businesses to not only tourists nationawide but also foreign travellers who pay much concerns with the environmental protection.
The Vice Manager of the Bhaya Limited Company Phan Van Tung said that the award is the recognition of JICA-funded project and Quang Ninh province to the company, marking their efforts in protecting the environment of Halong Bay and effectively using energy. He hopes that his company’s tourism products and other tourism boat companies in Halong Bay would be well developed to be labelled with the bue sail.
Cuong stated that sustainable tourism development is current trend of the world that brings more benefits for tourists and travel agents. Tourists are now keen on environmentally friendly tourism products. Thus, they tend to choose eco-lable tourism products.
In Vietnam, the eco-lable haven’t been used for tourist boats. However, Quang Ninh have drawn the eco criteria for cruise ships based on tourism eco-lable criteria. As reported, Quang Ninh is the first locality of Vietnam among limited number of countries that have initiative to offer eco-lable to tourist boats.
In the upcoming time, with JICA’s support, Quang Ninh plans to continue intensifying state management over environmental protection on Halong Bay so as to grant blue sail eco-lable to all other tourist boats.
Therefore, all the boats that do not meet criteria to be labledwill not be allowed to operate on Halong Bay.
According to the Ha Long city People’s Committee, there are currently over 500 4-star and 5-star tourist boats and more than 80 touirst boat businesses operating on Ha Long and Bai Tu Long Bays.
Article by Thu Nguyen
