Some signboards with the words “du lich sinh thai” (eco-tourism) can be seen on the Lang Hoa Lac Highway, just about 40 kilometers far away from Hanoi. More and more such boards are hung on the way to Luong Son, Hoa Binh province. Especially, there are numerous similar boards on the branching roads.

The so called “eco-tourism sites” are the large land plots, about several hundreds of square meters at least, where there are artificial ponds, lakes, several houses in ancient styles  and ornamental trees.

The entertainment services provided here include karaoke, massage, and billiards. Tennis courts can be found at some tourism sites. Each of the tourism site only has several rooms for guests to stay. There are very few guests all year round.

As the business has been going badly, the owners of the tourism sites have been taking loss. However, they still wait for their opportunities, when the land price increases. By that time, they would transfer the assets to secondary investors for profit.

The common feature of the eco-tourism sites is that they are all located in the areas with wonderful natural landscapes. Especially, the visitors there can enjoy the quietness of the nature and avoid the noise and the dust in urban areas.

In principle, eco-tourists have the opportunities to discover the nature, come closer to the nature and discover the local culture. However, at the tourism sites, travelers cannot expect this.

No cultural activities are organized in the evening at the tourism sites. Tourists can only go sightseeing and discovering the nature in daytime. However, they have to do this by themselves, because no tour guide would escort them.

In fact, a local resident commented, the eco-tourism sites are merely the guest houses which are built in the mountainous areas.

A lot of eco-tourism sites have also arisen in the sea city of Da Nang in the central region. Bai Rang, Bai But in the Son Tra peninsula and the ones along the Pham Van Dong beach are the better known names to tourists. In those areas, hundreds of private run shops and restaurants have also mushroomed, which target to provider services to the guests at the eco-tourism sites.

It is the shops and restaurants which have been discharging big volumes of rubbish every day. The tourists come there to enjoy the natural landscapes, but they themselves have been destroying the landscapes by discharging garbage and polluting the environment.

In the south of the Hai Van Pass, where there are thick pine forests and the rich flora and fauna, a lot of food shops have also turned up which make money and discharge garbage to the environment. Experts have warned against the environment pollution and the forest fire, once the eco-tourism services cannot be provided in a right way.

Under the Tourism Law, eco-tourism is a kind of nature-based tourism which allows travelers to discover the nature and local culture. This can make a great contribution to the efforts of preserving and developing the local values in a sustainable way.

However, in fact, the development of the eco-tourism in a spontaneous way, with no guidance from the state management agencies, it has been threatening the local culture and environment.

DNSGCT