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Sustainability Enthusiasts Attended AYST 2019 in Vietnam



Sustainability Enthusiasts Attended AYST 2019 in Vietnam

(Perspective from a participant- Horseng Se - Cambodia)

More than 30 young leaders from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam were invited to celebrate the first ever ASEAN Youth on Sustainable Tourism 2019  from 2-7 April in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

The program, co-hosted by Viet Youth on Sustainable Tourism and British University of Vietnam, aimed to put young starters in one place to exchange, discover, learn and discuss over the topic of "Sustainable Tourism" which is according to SDGs.

The program was officially opened with Opening Ceremony together with seminars and workshops presented by educators from BUV and experts in the field of Tourism and Sustainability from all over Vietnam. Other exciting activities came as following:

Seminars/Workshops


Participants did get a pile of insights from seminars/ workshops, one of which was the inspiring story of Ms. Shu Tan- CEO and founder of Sapa O’Chau. She was a minor girl from Sapa, who dreamed to learn English and do good things to her community. She stared to interact with foreigners to practice her English, and while growing, she started to work with many minor positions to earn a living and learn at the same time. Now she is the CEO and founder of Sapa O’Chau which is the community-based tourism company. This company is operating to make sustainable lives of culture, environment, and local people because the tour services provided do not harm the environment. At the same time,  it can reduce number of people from the community who migrate to the cities since they have choice to work and earn a living there.


According Ms. Shu Tan, this happens because she learns to appreciate the beauty of her community which she believes to be able to offer many things. We were told to learn how to look at the beauty of our community, and we do not need to go anywhere else because we can also make a living and sustainably develop our community. We just learn to use new technology and have initiative ideas that fit to place and situation, so that we can create amazing good initials for our community.

Break-out Sessions


Another perfectly-done activity was break-out session. All youths were grouped to initiate ideas to solve social problems related to tourism and SDGs, which was inspired by Social Entrepreneurship concept. At the end, we learnt that Social Entrepreneurship should be defined as any innovative business or just ideas that can help solve any social problems. In other words, as social entrepreneurs, we do not need only to create business, but it is okay just that we have passion and ideas to solve social problems. 


In many sessions, we got to play a lot of games that gave us deeper knowledge related to sustainability problems. It was so surprising that there have been a lot of issues on Earth that we have not known and paid much attention on. One of those problems is excessive amount of plastic used, which happens mostly in our Asian region. We have been producing, using, and throwing away a very big amount of plastic, in which now there should be an alert.

At the end of the session, all participants promised to reduce plastic by using more and more environmentally-friendly objects or creating campaign and spreading awareness.    

Cultural and Food Tours

This is personally exactly the most favorite part of all activities. We have visited many tourist sites, restaurants, business places and so on. 
  • Cultural Sites

In some tourists places such as Thang Long Palace and Temple of Literature, we did not only visit the sites, but also exposed ourselves to knowledge and creative ideas by playing games led by English for Tourism 4ET team. Each step of the games really surprised us and at the same time gave us so much knowledge about the places and Vietnam as a whole.
  • Business Places

Two business places which really amazed the participants were Koto and Hanoia. The former one is a restaurant which was initially created just to help Vietnamese locals earn a living by providing them skills so that they could live more sustainably. Now besides being a popular restaurant in Hanoi, Koto still keeps professionally training people in restaurant field, which can build many potential human resources in Vietnam. 


The later one or Hanoia is kind of clothes and souvenir shop which plays important role in preserving Vietnamese arts and cultures. Nowadays, the shop owns a traditional silk business and a temple which opens to all people in the area. These two business places do not only earn their own income, but embrace their own causes contributing to the society in terms of human resources and culture.
  • Food Tour

How could the program be complete without immersing to local food? Thank to the organizers who guided us to taste food ranging from small street shops to luxurious restaurants. Personally, having local food is one of the best ways that can teach us how to accept different cultures. The food from different country must be unfamiliar to us; thus, we need to accept and adjust. Vietnam has many choices to offer to all food lovers. You will never disappoint in terms of eating in this country.
  • Cultural Night

The last day should be the most memorable one. We wore our traditional clothes and ate in a famous restaurant in Hanoi together with incredible cultural performance of each country of the participants. That was the day of most interaction. Everyone asked each other" When will be your flight?" It seemed that we were afraid of saying good bye. However, the world becomes more globalized, and technology eases us a lot to communicate; thus, we are not afraid to meet each other again anywhere in this world. 

Ending this year program, but not activities and friendship


Sooner or later, the program came to an end. However, our care about sustainability never ends for sure. Our activities to serve the community will still continue forever.

Staying in Vietnam around one week, we actually cannot describe all the things in this small piece of writing. It was full of experience, knowledge, friendship, and connection.

Cannot wait to see each other again!!!!! ASEAN Youth on Sustainable Tourism, Vietnam


To be updated!!!!!




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