Thừa Thiên-Huế to reduce plastic waste, develop sustainable tourism

Tourists are given shopping bags instead of single-use plastic bags while going to markets in Thủy Biều Village. — Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

THỪA THIÊN-HUẾ — Thủy Biều, a tourist destination that aims to reduce plastic waste, will encourage tourists not to use plastic bags and replace plastic bottled drinking water with refillable glass bottles.

These are the main targets of the Thủy Biều tourism destination, which has been launched in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province by the provincial Tourism Association and the project “Huế – Urban to reduce plastic waste in Việt Nam’s central region”.

The Thủy Biều tourism destination is in Thủy Biều Ward, Huế City.

It is an ancient village, about 5km from the city centre.

Trần Quang Hào, Director of the HueTourist, said that the special feature was that the village had rustic and simple scenery. Many familiar images of ancient Vietnamese villages were preserved.

“Previously, tourists staying in the village were provided with bottled drinking water. Hotels also supplied disposable plastic items. After being educated, locals are more aware about the harm of plastic waste on the environment and human health. They are determined to build Thủy Biều into the city’s first plastic waste-reducing tourist destination,” said Hào.

It will contribute to turning Huế into a plastic-reducing city next year, he said.

This is the first community tourism destination in Huế to eliminate plastic items and reduce plastic waste.

Nearly 20 tourist supply centres in the village committed to implement plastic reduction solutions.

Tourists are encouraged to bring personal belongings. Those who do not bring their own water bottles will be given water bottles which they can refill at tourism places throughout the journey.

The village sets up five free water refill points for visitors. Signs identifying water filling points are also installed.

For tours with cooking experiences, shopping bags and food containers are arranged so that visitors can go to the market without using plastic bags.

Rooms in hotels replace plastic bottled drinking water with refillable glass water bottles.

The village arranges more trash bins so that tourists can dispose of trash in the right place and for convenient collection.

Separate bins to contain recyclable rubbish are provided at many tourism sites.

If it is rainy, tourists will be provided cloth raincoats or umbrellas instead of disposable raincoats, Hào said.

More than 1.64 million tourists came to Thừa Thiên-Huế Province in the first half of last year, according to the provincial Department of Tourism.

Of which, domestic tourists are more than one million and international ones were more than 500,000.

Total revenue from tourism in the first six months this year was estimated at nearly VNĐ3.5 trillion (US$144.1 million), an increase of 148 per cent over the same period of 2022.

Most of the tourists were from Thailand, France, Australia, Germany, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia.

The number of tourists coming to Huế increased thanks to numerous festivals. In addition, businesses and travel companies also promoted the image of Huế tourism to many people, Hào said.

Thủy Biều alone is a tourist destination of interest to travel companies. On average, the village welcomes about 400-600 visitors per month.

The plan to reduce plastic waste in Thừa Thiên-Huế in the period 2023-25 has been developed and implemented to contribute to the ocean plastic waste reduction goals in the national action plan on ocean waste management until 2030. — VNS