Thua Thien-Hue to assist travel firms during airport shutdown

 

 

Thua Thien-Hue Province will help tour operators carry tourists from Danang Airport to Hue City during the eight-month shutdown of Phu Bai Airport starting from March next year.

Vietnam Airlines will launch more flights to Danang during this period to meet the transport demand of tourists.

Ngo Hoa, vice chairman of Thua Thien-Hue, said when Phu Bai Airport was temporarily closed for runway repair, the province would send coaches from Hue to its neighboring city of Danang to pick up tourists. The province will soon inform travel firms of this plan, Hoa told the Daily on the sidelines of a meeting with the aviation authorities on Thursday.

Earlier, Vietnam Airlines Corporation sent a dispatch to the government of Thua Thien-Hoa, informing the province about a plan for shutdown of Phu Bai Airport. As planned, the airport will be closed in March 2013 for runway repair in 6-8 months.

Hoa said the provincial authorities had met a number of tour operators to discuss how to serve tourists during the shutdown of the airport.

At present, Phu Bai Airport receives three round-trip flights from HCMC and three others from Hanoi every day. On the peak days, there can be up to 3,000 tourists traveling from Hue to HCMC and Hanoi and vice versa.

“We will seek ways to further support enterprises so that they will not incur much loss and can maintain the growth rate of the tourism industry,” said Hoa.

Phu Bai Airport was once shut down for runway repair in May and June last year. Back then, travel firms were displeased at the local authorities for the airport shutdown upon short notice.

Thua Thien-Hue with the word’s heritage Hue Ancient Capital is one of the main destinations for tourists in the central region. The province last month welcomed nearly 2.2 million foreign and local tourist arrivals.

Source: SGT

 

Responsible Travel Club of Viet Nam

The Responsible Travel Club (RTC) of  Viet Nam  is an informal group of tour operators dedicated to building responsible travel and sustainable tourism in all regions in  Viet Nam .

What to experience?

If you want your travel to create real positive impact and value in the destinations, and at the same time experience genuine community based tourism, go with one of them. Each CBT tour tries to enhance the interaction between the local host and guests so they can exchange on their respective culture. For examples the local host and his  family are invited to have meals with guests.

After three years of running an association of responsible tour operators working towards responsible and sustainable  tourism, RTC has become a platform between Tour Operators and the CBT sites they are working with. RTC organizes annually an inspection trip for their members and invite NGOs working in developing CBT in  Viet Nam  such as SNV and WWF, FPSC Spain to join. During the trip, experiences from each party are exchanged, open and free discussions have become a connection for all stakeholders for mutual benefits.

They work closely with local communities and ethnic tribes to optimise their benefits from tourism and, seek financial support from NGOs and donors, such as in Chieng Yen, or Ngoc Son Ngo Luong. Created by Footprint Vietnam Travel,  Activetravel Asia, Sisters Tours, Indochina Travelland, and GSO Travel, their members now include: Vietnam Discovery Travel, Tonkin Travel, and Aurora Travel.

How does it help?

Some members give back 5% of their profit to the communities they visit, which they use to build infrastructures such as schools, library. All decisions are in hand of local people. They are the one who set the prices, welcome the guests.

Activities they conduct are tackling the key elements, which enable to improve tourism impacts. For example, realising that the quality and ethics of many tour guides were alarming, RTC has been working on improving the quality of guides behaviour and knowledge and set up the RTC network of responsible guides. They also organise workshops and training sessions, developed a Code of conducts for travellers as well as for staff on conserving natural and cultural heritage which is applied by its members. Their next step is to identify and grade eco friendly hotels in  Hanoi .

Workshops they organised include:

- Workshop in La vie Vu Linh,  Yen   Bai   Province  for RTC members and member’s staff on “Environmental impacts of tourism on responsible development”.

- Applied “Green Office” model for RTC responsible tour operators with the technical support from Enerteam.

- Clean-up and Trash-bin Giving in Co To Island

Contact Details

NGO Responsible Travel Club of  Vietnam  (RTC)

10A1 Ly  Nam  De,  Hanoi ,  Vietnam

Tel: 39332844

Email: rtcvietnam@gmail.com

Website: www.rtcvietnam.org