Vietnam gets even greener
33 tourist accommodations receive green lotus label
The Green Lotus (Bong sen xanh) label was awarded to 33 hotels and guesthouses nationwide in recognition of their meeting standards on environmental protection, heritage conservation and contribution to local economic growth, at a recent conference.
The label, issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2012 targeting tourism accommodations, is a set of 81 criteria and is graded from one to five green lotuses.
This year, the five-lotus label was given to 8 hotels, while 12 achieved a four-lotus label and 11 earned the three-lotus recognition. Two hotels acquired the one-lotus standard.
Most of the winners of four- and five-lotus label carry out environmental protection in a businesslike manner.
In addition to providing training courses and documents for staff, they set up websites to update information and regulations on environment conservation for each service. Applying new technology and using renewable energy are also among their efforts to reduce negative environmental impacts.
At the conference, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ngo Hoai Chung highlighted the necessity to fine-tune the set of criteria and issue legal regulations to establish the role of the label.
The tourism sector needs to enhance communication activities to raise the accommodations’ awareness on environment protection, Chung said.
He added that relevant agencies should promote cooperation in examining and inspecting environment protection activities in tourist accommodations.
Valere Tjolle
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