Tourism Promotion Conference with the theme "Orientation for developing green and sustainable Moc Chau National Tourist Area.".

Delegates: Ms. Trang Thi Xuan, Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and Mr. Ho An Phong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration co-chaired the Conference. Attending the Conference were leaders of departments, branches, districts, and cities; representatives of tourism and travel units and businesses inside and outside the province.

The delegates to the conference.

Moc Chau Tourist Area, a scale of 206,150 hectares, located in the Moc Chau and Van Ho district, is the gateway connecting Son La and the Northwest provinces with Hanoi and the Red River Delta connecting Long Sap International Border Gate to Hua Phan province and Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR. This place has a fresh, cool climate and is a famous location for resort tourism in Vietnam. In the tourism development space of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region of the tourism development strategy of Vietnam, the Moc Chau National Tourist Area is considered one of the importance national tourist areas on the tourism journey with the title: “Through the Northwest.”. On April 22, 2024, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 1077/QD-BVHTTD to be recognized the Moc Chau National Tourist Area. That is a crucial basis for plateau tourism to continue its affirmation as an attractive destination on the Vietnam and international tourism maps.

Ms.Trang Thi Xuan, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, spoke at the Conference.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Ms. Trang Thi Xuan emphasized that Son La province's tourism industry, in general, and Moc Chau National Tourist Area, in particular, look forward to hearing consultation opinions from state management agencies, experts, and tourism businesses so that Son La province has a basis to continue to direct, and have plans, strategies, and solutions to orient the development of the Moc Chau National Tourist Area to develop commensurate with its potential, advantages, scale, and stature of the National Tourism Area based on preserving and promoting traditional cultural values, protecting natural landscapes and the environment, and minimizing unwanted impacts. We want to learn lessons from national tourist areas and famous tourist areas.

At the Conference, delegates focused on discussing and contributing ideas to build and develop a green and sustainable Moc Chau National Tourist Area.

Opinion: Master Nguyen Dao Dung, Head of Travel Management Department, Vietnam National Tourism Administration: Son La province, Moc Chau, and Van Ho districts need to clarify the overall spatial developing orientation, zoning according to Areas associated with the development of unique, focused and main tourism products: North - Northeast; central partition and southern - southwest partition. Researching the development orientation of the urban system (Moc Chau, Van Ho) associated with tourism development, including the need to protect and develop green spaces, tea hills, and grasslands in urban areas. Develop tourism services, hotel accommodations, homestays, diverse entertainment, and space in harmony with the green landscape, water surface, and natural terrain.

Opinion: Ms. Phan Thi Thai Ha, Deputy Director of Tourist Information Center, Vietnam National Tourism Administration: Contributing to promoting green and sustainable tourism development at Moc Chau National Tourist Area, Son La province, Moc Chau and Van Ho districts need to continue to maintain and update digitization of tourism information about Moc Chau, consolidate and upgrade the Moc Chau tourism information portal to integrate enough the information about attractions and tourism along with necessary services to serve tourists. At the same time, the information portal meets standards for connecting and sharing with national tourism digital platforms. Strengthen links, communication, and tourism promotion on national tourism digital platforms; promote connection with shared databases in the tourism industry to encourage green transformation in tourism activities; Strengthen links between relevant agencies and units.

Opinion: Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Tourism Association: For Moc Chau National Tourism Area to develop greenly and sustainably, businesses recommend the Provincial People's Committee and sectors develop planning for centers that are in Decision 2050/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister serves as a legal basis to attract businesses to invest in and develop products; research and promulgate specific policy mechanisms for Moc Chau National Tourist Area; pay attention to propagandizing and raising awareness about tourism development as an economic sector, having an impact on promoting other sectors to develop, creating income-generating jobs for people and businesses; increase revenue for the State budget. Pay attention to training and fostering professional improvement for workers in the tourism field to be more professional.

At the Conference, companies, businesses, and tourism cooperatives of Son La province, with tourism companies, Unesco Hanoi Travel Club, and VietTravel Tourism Company, signed a commitment to strengthen cooperation in tourism development, establishing alliances to sell tourism products, supporting and improving the effectiveness of promotion, advertising, and communication activities on tourism product and service images and information by local development orientation.

Mr. Ho An Phong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, spoke at the Conference.

Speaking at the Conference, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism - Mr. Ho An Phong, congratulated the achievements of Son La province and Moc Chau Tourist Area on being recognized as a national tourist area. At the same time, he recommended that Son La province continue paying attention to doing good planning work and focusing resources on investment in infrastructure, technical facilities, tourism services, transport infrastructure connecting to tourist areas, destinations, and other infrastructure, completing and enhancing national tourist area criteria, developing diverse, unique, and attractive tourism products, focusing on preserving and promoting tangible and intangible cultural values associated with tourism development, building community tourism areas, sites, and villages, associated with preservation, promoting ethnic and cultural identities, and preserving typical agricultural ecosystems, gradually turning Moc Chau National Tourist Area into one of the famous national tourist areas in the country, creating a global, and sustainable brand for tourism in Son La and the Northwest region.

Concluding the Conference, comrade Trang Thi Xuan, on behalf of the Leaders of Son La province, thanked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Vietnam National Tourism Administration for always caring and supporting the province. Son La promotes tourism development activities. Son La province also respectfully thanks and acknowledges the contributions of businesses inside and outside the province to the development of tourism in Son La province in general and Moc Chau National Tourist Area in particular, especially in the construction of tourism, building and providing high-quality tourism products and services, linking, cooperating, and developing the tourism market, bringing more and more tourists to Moc Chau National Tourist Area, staying longer, and using more services. Son La province respectfully accepts the opinions and discussions of delegates and businesses at the Conference. Based on that, Son La province will research and focus on solutions for the Moc Chau National Tourist Area's rapid development.

The tourism enterprises signed the Memorandum of Cooperation.

Tuan Quoc

                                                           Translated by Tuan Minh DANG