Vietnam’s sea being ‘cut into small bits’

09:42' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Nha Trang beach VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s sea is now being cut into small bits, commented Pham Tu, Vice Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), at a recent workshop titled “Nature – tourism resources” held on June 15 in the coastal city of Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province. The number of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam increased from 1.5 million to 3.6 million from 2002 to 2006. During this time, sea tourism accounted for 70% of the total revenues of the tourism sector. As the number of tourists rises, the number of coastal tourism projects is also on the rise. More tourists, more pollution With nearly 1 million sq.km of sea, Vietnam’s sea tourism potential is huge. However, Vietnam’s sea is being polluted. Ha Long Bay, Lang Co Lagoon and Nha Trang Beach are the most typical examples. Recently, the development of diving in Nha Trang has brought about the devastation of corals and seriously affected the lives of aquatic animals. Every day, more than 40 tourism boats carry around 600 visitors to Nha Trang Bay for diving to see corals. According to surveys made by local and foreign scientists, 80% of the assets of Vietnam’s sea like corals, sea grass are at risk and 50% of them are at high risk and will be difficult to recover. Annually, from lunar June to mid lunar July, in some provinces like Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, coasts become white due to a phenomenon called “tapioca”, which is caused by alluvium, dead creatures and waste. Sea water becomes thick and smells bad. It takes 5-10 years to deal with the situation, according to Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang, Vice Chairman of the Khanh Hoa People’s Committee. Mistaken conception Professor Ernst Sagemueller, a lecturer at the Europe-Indochina Institute of Tourism, said: “Defining Vietnam’s tourism as an industry is the first and basic mistake, which makes Vietnam’s natural resources suffer. Tourism is never a kind of good. It is an interaction between human and human, human and nature.” Considering tourism as an industry has allowed managers to let Vietnam’s tourism become popular tourism. Under the pressure of tourism development, the area of salt marsh forest is reducing rapidly. Vietnam now has around 155,300ha of salt marsh forest, a decrease of 100,000ha compared to the period before 1990. The disappearance of thousands of hectares of salt-marsh forest not only means that Vietnam is losing its unique salt-marsh ecology, but this also directly influences the sea’s ecological system. According to experts of the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), Vietnam’s tourism, particularly sea tourism, can’t be seen as a market. The moving of native fisherman communities and transferring their land to investors to develop tourism, which is being performed by some coastal provinces in Vietnam, is irrational. It is a fact that sea tourism develops based on the exploitation of sea resources. That’s the reason to restrict the number of tourists in sea tourism areas. According to Professor Ernst Sagemueller, Vietnam needs to differentiate between ‘visitors’ and ‘quality visitors’. ‘Quality visitors’ are people who love nature and respect cultural and natural values. These are people who are ready to pay to enjoy the wonderfulness of nature. From now to 2010, the number of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam is forecast to increase to 7-7.5 million and Vietnam’s sea will have to suffer from tourism projects and overuse if the tourism sector doesn’t have a plan to preserve and develop sea resources in a sustainable manner. (Source: Viet Nam Net)