Tourists at Núi Chúa National Park in the southern Ninh Thuận Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Công Thử

HÀ NỘI — Boasting great resources of forest and forest land, Việt Nam is advised to develop forest ecosystem services, especially forest-based ecotourism to create jobs and improve incomes for locals, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction among mountainous communities.

According to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in 2022, Việt Nam had 14.79 million hectares of forest area, of which 10.13 million hectares were natural forests and 4.66 million hectares were planted ones.

According to the MARD’s Department of Forestry, income from forest services is about VNĐ40 trillion (US$1.62 billion) each year, including about VNĐ2 trillion ($81.2 million) from forest tourism.

Since 2016, forest-based community tourism has thrived. In 2022 alone, this kind of tourism attracted 3.1 million tourists.

Recently, national parks and natural reserves across the country, including Pù Mát, Cúc Phương, Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng, U Minh Thượng, Ba Vì, Bạch Mã, Cát Tiên, Cát Bà, Hoàng Liên, Tam Đảo, Bà Nà-Núi Chúa national parks, as well as more than 60 natural reserves across the country have worked hard to promote forest-based ecotourism.

However, forest-based ecotourism in Việt Nam is still in its beginning stage with limitations in professionalism, management and resource use for tourism.

Meanwhile, the research, baseline study and forest-based ecotourism development planning have yet to be conducted effectively.

Đỗ Văn Lập, Vice Director of the Cúc Phương National Park, said that the park has organised various programmes, activities and tours in association with wildlife rescue and preservation.

Cúc Phương is home to 2,230 floral species and 669 animal species, including 73 listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and endangered species needing urgent protection.

Trần Anh Tuấn, founder of Nature Expedition, said that the firm’s experience tourism products in Cúc Phương National Park have attracted a large number of visitors, especially children, helping educate them about the responsibility to protect the environment and wildlife.

According to experts, Việt Nam needs to give suitable policies, strategies and approaches to diversify forest ecosystem services.

At the same time, the country should also diversify forest welfare for the community and educate the community about the significance of the forest, thus encouraging actions to protect forests as well as the environment and biodiversity in Việt Nam. — VNS