IUCN in collaboration with Planeterra held the first workshop on Health and Safety procedures in May at the Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Wetlands Nature Reserve (Vietnam)  

As part of the implementation phase of the project “Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas in a Post-COVID World”, on May 9th, 2022, a workshop on Health & Safety (H&S) implications in tourism, was held in IUCN Green List Candidate site Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam.  

 The activity involved management board staff and 31 people from the indigenous communities of Khanh village, An Nghia commune, Lac Son district and Hoa Binh. Participants included key members of the village (Seniors, Head of community, Women’s Union, Youth Union, Farmer’s Association, Communist Party’s Secretary at Commune level) and key stakeholders directly providing tourism products and services, homestay & food service providers, local tour guides, and other interested individuals.  

 The workshop’s main objective was to provide suggestions on the daily operational procedures that might be needed to manage health risk issues throughout the tourism experience while also understanding cultural considerations in a post-COVID-19 era.  

 The workshops aimed to transfer knowledge and skills that will make the community and guests feel as comfortable as possible during the tourism experience. Key topics included creating a safe environment for tourists and practicing hygienic measures to minimize the spread of germs or bacteria. 

Some of the main achievements included:  

1. General rules and regulations regulated by local authorities regarding health and safety within a community tourism context were circulated and informed to the participants;   
2. Local communities proposed a Code of Conduct, that would set standards for community behavior, community tourism development and environmental protection within the context of health and safety;   
3. A village tourism map was illustrated alongside a seasonal calendar to guide the tourism experience and orientate tourism activities.  
4. An action plan for public space renovation was drafted; and,   
5. Standard operating procedures were created for  health and safety, on-site cleaning and waste management.   

The workshop also helped to better understand the community’s perception regarding their faith in being able to manage the project, their acceptance of community tourism development activities and their motivation to implement the Code of Conduct and action plan created during the workshop.  “We have been thinking of doing this [action plan] for a long time but thanks to this workshop we are more determined to put this action plan into reality altogether” – Mr. Bui Van Vin, Head of Khanh Village  

 For more information, please contact Phuong Tran, Community Tourism Project Manager  

ptran@planeterra.org and/ or Ulrika Åberg, Programme Officer, Protected and Conserved Areas Team, IUCN, ulrika.aberg@iucn.org 

This project is implemented with support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Photo credits: Cuc Phuong National Park