The workshop’s objective is to raise awareness for hotel businesses in Cat Ba island about the shortage of energy and water resources not only on the global scale but also in many islands of the area as well. Towards the sustainable development of Tourism and the economic development of the island, many hotels have been consulted, introduced with simple and possible solutions on increasing the effective use of energy and water resources so that they can reduce their energy and water cost, conserve natural resources and prevent environmental pollution.
At the workshop, a representative of Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) presented recent achievements of tourism and risks influencing the environment. She emphasized that island tourism generally contributes over 60% of Tourism’s total revenue and attracts 70% of foreign tourists to Vietnam and the island tourism development proposal for 2011- 2012 period is under the approval by the government. VNAT prioritizes the development of Halong - Cat Ba tourism in the near future.
The local businesses also have been provided with a lot of useful information on sustainable tourism: Green Lotus tourism label and Green Tourism concept. The ESRT Program (Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Program) shared experiences on implementing green tourism of neighbor countries and specific suggestions on green tourism and green business for hotels in this pearl island. Over 70 hotels, restaurant and tourism businesses of the island participated in the workshop. They highly appreciated the workshop because of not only information on energy efficiency solutions but also the chance of directly communicating with suppliers and experiencing the products at the exhibition. Especially, a representative from Neoperl, the world leading manufacturer on water saving technology, provided a presentation and demonstration on their water saving equipments which attracted not only the local authorities but also the hotel businesses. According to comments of many participants, this was the first time that such a useful event like this has been organized in Cat Ba.
The workshop ended by the “Lucky draw” session with the award of 50% energy saving T5 light bulbs. The first prize winner is Anh Tuan Hotel and the two second prizes belong to Sunflower II Hotel and Thai Duong Hotel. Anh Tuan Hotel also got the NEOPERL water saving aerators because they come to the workshop the soonest.
The local authorities highly appreciated the good cooperation of MEET-BIS Vietnam and its technology suppliers to the island. The workshop opened future opportunities for the island and technology suppliers to implement other activities on energy and water efficiency, preparing for “The Year of National Tourism: Red River delta, Hai Phong 2013” and moving towards the sustainable development of tourism and economics of Cat Ba pearl island.