The statement was made by Deputy Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Ha Van Sieu while receiving and working with World Wide Fund for Nature in Vietnam (WWF-Vietnam) to discuss a project on reducing ivory demand through the enhancement of law enforcement and responsible tourism practices on August 23.
At the working session, Vuong Quoc Chien, the manager of the elephant ivory programme under the WWF-Vietnam, said that with the project, WWF-Vietnam is expected to make the most of its partners’ understanding of tourism to develop and tailor messages and raise public awareness of wildlife and elephant conservation, thereby contributing to reducing poaching of elephants by reducing the supply and demand for ivory in the Asian market.
Deputy Director General of the VNAT Ha Van Sieu emphasised that the administration has always appreciated wildlife conservation projects in general and WWF-Vietnam’s projects in particular towards promoting sustainable tourism development.
The VNAT is ready to become a partner with the project as well as to give instructions to tourism management agencies so as to facilitate the implementation process of the project.
On the occasion, Sieu also suggested that WWF should have a flexible and effective solution to assess the improvement of people's awareness of reducing the demand for ivory.
Initially, the project will focus on 5 provinces and cities of Vietnam including Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Hanoi. It will be carried out over a three-year period.
