• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
TDM Insights

TDM Insights

Tourism Destination Management

  • Categories
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Cultural Heritage
    • Destination Management
    • Destination Image
    • Destination Resilience
    • Innovation
    • Place-making
    • Sustainability
    • Technology
    • Tourism Ethics
    • Tourism Stakeholders
  • Issues
    • Issue V – 2021
    • Issue IV – 2020
    • Special Issue – EIFMeT Masterclass
    • Issue III – 2019
    • Issue II – 2018
    • Issue I – 2017
  • News/events
  • Contact
  • About

Response to Chi Nguyen

This is a response to the article: Corporate Social Responsibility for Inbound Tour Operators in Vietnam: Perception and Reality and introducting Travelife Certification for the Travel sector

I am Emma Duong Thuy Nguyen and I am Vice Director of Eviva Tour Vietnam and President of the Responsible Travel Club of Vietnam (RTC). I am writing my feedback on ‘CSR for ITOs in Vietnam: Perception and Reality and introducing Travelife Certification for the Travel Sector’ by Chi Nguyen. This topic is very important for ITOs in Vietnam, for two reasons:

  • ITOs have the power to make an impact. As tourism is one of the three core economic activities in Vietnam, ITOs play a very important role and can influence all buyers and suppliers of tourism products in Vietnam. They buy tourism products from hotels, transportation, restaurants and others and are the (nearly) only focal points in Vietnam for the travel agencies, tour operators and customers overseas before they enter Vietnam.
  • Due to the education system after the war, current Vietnam ITO leaders’ awareness towards CSR is very low

Chi Nguyen’s findings are not new but very valuable and practically applicable. There are relevant recommendations for ITOs. Hereby, I refer specifically to the group of pioneering ITOs that are the members of RTC Vietnam. It will take substantially more time for the other ITOs to take steps. The Travelife certification program is new to most of Vietnam ITOs including RTC members. The finding of ITOs “ego-ing” rather than “eco-ing” responsible tourism practices are really interesting and ironical – and relevant in understanding the psychology of the people working in the travel sector.

In implementing Chi Nguyen’s recommendations the following barriers need to be overcome:

  • The costs involved in introducing Travelife, e.g. inviting a Travelife expert, are substantial – considering that ITOs’ awareness is not high. The RTC only has a limited budget. Sponsorship by relevant organizations could help to make a good start.
  • ITOs are basically busy all year round. Raising awareness for CSR and Travelife has to happen during those small gaps in time when they are less busy, otherwise it will fail. The recommended months are early September or early May (for the majority of ITOs) or June for ITOs specializing in inbound tours only.
  • As awareness of CSR is low and the misuse of the terms are common, the benefits of offering responsible travel for ITOs need to be explained (EGO, not ECO first). For example, one of the biggest ITOs does many responsible things, but the owner think responsible is a fashionable word that is not consistent with the company’s focus on revenue. So although they are doing very well, he thinks they would never qualify for a responsible label. It has to be explained to ITOs how CSR can reduce costs, increase revenue, and only then to talk about how good it is for the environment. Information about responsible travel can be spread via social media (Facebook, Instagram, blogs, websites) and email, using infographics and videos that are understandable to people working in the field. This is a low-cost, high-impact strategy. Furthermore, there can be attention for CSR during the monthly networking event of RTC – so that all the people working in the field from different positions can feel, taste and understand and practice responsible criteria.
  • RTC wants to partner with Travelife to implement the certificate in Vietnam. After Chi proposed this at the 2017 ITB in Berlin, we have been searching for a coordinator to implement this, but have yet to find one. The limited budget available plays an important role in this. If the right person, who is professional, passionate, and within the limited budget can be found, we will do it right away!

A potential implementation of Travelife fits very well with the existing strategy and actions of RTC. One of our important action plan point for 2017 is to revise the responsible criteria. This will be combined with trainings and on-site inspections with each company bi-annually––to make sure all the companies follow the CSR criteria. While RTC is not so strong and lack experts for doing this, Travelife is known for applying this in a professional manner. We hope that a number of pioneering ITOs in Vietnam can become members of Travelife to apply the real practice and guide the rest towards CSR in the future.

Secondary Sidebar

Author

Emma Nguyen:
Eviva Tour Vietnam
Responsible Travel Club of
Vietnam
thuyduong@evivatour.com.vn

Do you have a response?

We aim to be a forum for dialogue on issues connected with tourism destination management, so please contact us if you would like to write a response to one of the articles in the journal.

More to see

The Digital Bow – Empowering initiatives of indigenous community-based tourism during a pandemic

12th December 2021 By Anna Maria Freitag

From an online journey to a physical presence in a destination: digital strategies for the recovery of the industry post-COVID19. The case of the Van Gogh Sites Foundation

12th December 2021 By Talita Lemes & Celiane Camargo-Borges

Tags

AIDA theory animal welfare awareness changes citizen empowerment community-based community involvement COVID-19 Crisis customer journey decision making Destination Management destination recovery digital dog management programme EIFMeT ethnography feedback Free-roaming dogs Greece greenwashing iceberg model ICT Indonesia investment local context locals management marketing multi-stakeholder overtourism residents Rhodes rural shared space social impacts Sustainability Sustainable tourism technology tourism education tourism growth tourist-animal encounters travel advice travel experience Urban tourism

Footer

About TDM Insights

The Master in Tourism Destination Management is proud to present its own online journal “TDM Insights”. The journal is an opportunity for selected programme alumni to present a summary of their master dissertations. BUAS lectureres and other academics and practicioners discuss their work and evaluate their contribution to the tourism literature. Moreover, the editors of TDM Insights invite tourism professionals and experts from other industries to contribute columns on contemporary issues in tourism and destination management.

Recent

  • Editorial – Issue V
  • The Digital Bow – Empowering initiatives of indigenous community-based tourism during a pandemic
  • From an online journey to a physical presence in a destination: digital strategies for the recovery of the industry post-COVID19. The case of the Van Gogh Sites Foundation
  • Work-Integrated Learning: an approach to facilitate continuous innovation in higher tourism education
  • The future of work

Search

Keywords

AIDA theory animal welfare awareness changes citizen empowerment community-based community involvement COVID-19 Crisis customer journey decision making Destination Management destination recovery digital dog management programme EIFMeT ethnography feedback Free-roaming dogs Greece greenwashing iceberg model ICT Indonesia investment local context locals management marketing multi-stakeholder overtourism residents Rhodes rural shared space social impacts Sustainability Sustainable tourism technology tourism education tourism growth tourist-animal encounters travel advice travel experience Urban tourism

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in