PANO - On September 8th, the expanded Ministerial Forum of Ayeyawady–Chao Phraya–Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) on Responsible Tourism took place in HCM City with the participation of tourism ministers from ACMECS member nations – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Overview of the forum. Photo: vietnamtourism.com

The forum aims at implementing the action plan for period of 2016 – 2018, developing sustainable development, sharing experiences and charting out directions for the development of environmental-friendly ACMECS tourism. Last year, the ACMECS tourism recorded 52 million international visitors and 8.8 million internal travelers, an increase of 7 and 8 percent over the previous year, respectively.

Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien opening the forum. Photo: vietnamtourism.com

According to delegates at the forum, responsible tourism should be based on community’s interests to benefit all people involved. In addition, people also need to pay attention to some problems such as environment, waste treatment as well as effective application of science-technology to tourism.

The forum adopted an ACMECS Ministers’ statement on responsible tourism, which reiterates the ACMECS tourism industry’s commitment to responsible, sustainable, inclusive and balanced tourism development.

Translated by Lam Anh