Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - The culture, sports and tourismdepartment of Quang Nam province, in cooperation with its ancient town of HoiAn, plans to develop the tourism hub as a ‘non-smoking’ and a ‘bicycle’destination in the ‘green’ tourism promotion campaign.

Director of the department Nguyen Thanh Hong said ‘non-smoking’ awareness hasbeen raised by the Hoi An People’s Committee with series of publiccommunication and conferences on the negative impacts of smoking on human heathin 2011-15.

Hong said the idea would be included in the green tourism criteria issued bythe locality in late 2021 for development of green and sustainable tourismproducts on the basis of hotels, travel agencies, resorts, community-basedtourism, homestays and destinations.

Quang Nam province has been among the first areas in Vietnam to promote greentourism criteria including waste recycling, waste reduction, energy-saving andplastic-free consumption, he said.

“Hoi An city – a UNESCO-recognised world heritage site – has successfullyorganised non-engine zone for decades. Communications on non-smoking in publichas been implemented at community, destinations and public sites for years,” Hongsaid.

“We plan to promote the ‘non-smoking’ destination message among travelagencies, resorts, destinations, restaurants and shopping areas, as well asraise awareness in the community about not smoking at public sites.

”Since 2022, Hoi An has reserved the old quarter and an expanded area in thewest of the city for use as walking streets from 9am to 11am and from 3pm till9:30pm during the rainy season and 10pm in summer. Motorbikes and vehicles withengines have access for four hours per day and at night time.”

According to Huong Giang, a member of Hoi An city’s tourist support centre,smoking-related diseases and the imposition of strict punishments on violationsin smoke-free areas was also included in the communications campaign, withwarnings printed on vouchers and entrance tickets at destinations in Hoi An.

Vice chairman of the Hoi An Tourism Association Vo Phung said HoiAn launched a campaign to raise awareness of good-natured behaviour andhospitality among the community in building a friendly tourism environment andpromoting gentle manners.

It urges local community to limit poor manners when hosting tourists in publicsites, restaurants and destinations in the old quarter by introducing a code ofconduct for local residents.

He said local people were called avoid littering in public sites,honking too much in traffic, harassing and overcharging tourists, or makingexcessive noise in public places.

In the past years, Hoi An also had a plan of using bicycle fordaily riding among state agencies and local community, and bicycles are stillone of the favourite options for tourists and expats.

At least 100 hotels, homestays, villas and restaurants, and travel agencies inQuang Nam and Hoi An committed to reducing plastic waste and building a ‘zeroplastic waste tourism’ brand, while restaurants and coffee shops have beenusing straws, containers and souvenirs from bamboo and reed instead ofsingle-use plastic, said a report from Quang Nam provincial TourismAssociation.

Hoi An, which was designed as an eco-tour and environment-friendly destinationof Vietnam, has more than 1,000 accommodations including 43 hotels from 3-5star, 380 restaurants and 21 destinations.

To date, 80% of state offices had banned smoking, while 110restaurants and hotels had already assigned smoking area, or posted smoke-freezones.

Smoking was forbidden on all public buses, at schools andhospitals under the 2011-25 no-smoking campaign.

The city has assigned lanes for bicycleriders with an aim of developing 100,000 bicycles among daily commuters.

The central province, home to UNESCO-recognised world heritagesites of Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary, and the Hoi An-Cham Islands worldbiosphere, hosted 7.5 million tourists, including 3.8 million internationalvisitors, with revenue of 7.95 trillion VND (318 million USD) in 2023.

Hong said the Quang Nam tourism industry, which contributes about 10% of GrossRegional Domestic Product, aims to build sustainable tourism based on ecologicalprotection, conservation, waste recycling and emissions reduction./.