The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s (VNAT’s) task is the implementation of the sustainable tourism label Green Lotus, an assessment and management tool of environmental protection work for the accommodation industry in Vietnam. Aims are to raise awareness, knowledge and sense for environmental protection towards sustainable development of tourism in Vietnam.

Kai Partale, expert of the ESRT Programme, enriched the conference with a case study of the Green Star Hotel Initiative, an approach about developing and implementing a country-specific, environmentally-friendly label for the hotel industry in Egypt.

The Green Lotus Conference was supported by the ESRT to provide recommendations for the implementation on the Green Lotus label, such as:

·         Strengthen stakeholder buy-in to increase acceptance in the industry

·         Development of a Green Lotus leadership and implementation plan

·         Agree on a Lotus Brand communication plan

·         Manage quality assurance and control for the label

·         Enforce Public Private Partnership for the Lotus Programme