Nearly 100 participants, representing the sector, ranging from tourism associations, provinces and communities, hospitality, tourism and transportation service providers to representatives from tourism education and training institutions joined and exchanged ideas in the workshop.

At the workshop, the participants discussed the contents that needed to be improved and included into the existing Tourism Law to meet the needs of the tourism industry within the context of international integration and taking into account the needs of the society.

The main topics that have been discussed covered:

-       Tourism Consumer Protection: who will be responsible to protect the tourist, who represents tourists’ interests?

-       Travel business: should clarify inbound, outbound, type of business, tourism insurance, travel enterprises with foreign capital

-       Tourism Accommodation business: adjust the regulations on categorization, environmental standards

-       Tour Guiding: standards and level of international tour guides, regulations on issuing tour guide cards, adding on-site guide, management of tour guides and on-site guides

This workshop was organised as an intervention of the ESRT Programme following the two previous workshops in Da Nang and Hochiminh City in February 2012 for provincial tourism administrations, tourism training institutions and businesses with the effort to help Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) to revise the tourism legislation.