The International Labor Organization in Vietnam in cooperation with Quang Nam Province on Dec 13 officially kick-started a $1.4-million project of developing tourism combined with reducing poverty in remote areas. The project, lasting until 2013, has three components, including developing tourism products, providing jobs for locals and seeking tourism potentials. Through this project, Quang Nam aims to create a tourism value chain and encourage the participation of poor people in the project to boost social and economic benefits from tourism and reduce bad impacts on poor people. The total number of tourists visiting the province reached 2.17 million in the ten-month period, or 87.57% of the year’s target, up 21.38% from the same period last year. Specifically, there were over 1.114 million international tourists and 1.058 million domestic tourists, up 18.06% and 25.10% respectively. Besides, Quang Nam’s tourism obtained VND919 billion in revenue with a year-on-year rise of 21.06%. However, there is a big gap between beach and mountain tourism in the province. Apart from My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An Ancient Town as two well-known world cultural heritage sites, several tourism potentials, especially ones in midland and mountainous areas, have not been exploited efficiently. According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the project will exploit and develop tourism products for the midland and mountainous areas in a sustainable way. Tourism activities will also provide jobs for people of ethnic minority groups and contribute to poverty reduction in such areas. (thesaigontimes.vn Dec 14)
