Disaster tourism - new experience!

Disaster tourism or pain business is not a new concept because many countries in the world have applied it. In Vietnam, the Association of Sustainable Development Sciences has also launched many product packages of this type, the most recent being the Formosa tourism product.

Disaster Business

According to Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh, President of the Association of Sustainable Development Sciences, there have been many cases of "pain business" or "disaster tourism" in the world.

This type of tourism brings a special experience to tourists, when they go to the place where the disaster happened to help local people overcome difficulties, or simply share the pain and loss.

Places with storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis… are all attractive tourist destinations for the adventure and responsible tourism market. The increase in tourists in these areas has contributed to awakening and reviving economic sectors in areas affected by natural disasters and catastrophes.

On that basis, the Association of Sustainable Development Sciences has continuously researched and developed many disaster tourism tours and signed cooperation agreements with localities.

On September 24, 2016 in Hanoi, to celebrate World Tourism Day September 27, the Scientific Union for Sustainable Tourism Development (STDe) organized a workshop: Awakening Central Coastal Tourism with Breakthrough Creative Thinking.

"Formosa Tour" - Legend of steel fish turning into dragon is a tourism exploitation model with breakthrough thinking, focusing on exploiting the hidden cultural and spiritual aspects of fish and steel to create unique, attractive and humane tourism experiences.

Delegates attend the seminar to announce Formosa tour. Photo STDe.

So that tourists coming to the Central region can experience the legend of the steel fish, learn about the origin and history of the fish, the joys and sorrows of the fish as well as their dream of becoming a dragon... The message of this product is: "The fish may die but the soul of the fish will live forever".

"Formosa Tour" passes through 4 provinces: Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue,... connecting 5 most important tourist destinations associated with the life and training process of the fish - steel before turning into a dragon.

Tourist destination 1 is the "wooden fish" fishing village - where the fish was born and raised (located at Thien Cam beach - Ha Tinh).

Here, visitors will learn about the ancestors, origin and legend of the wooden fish (the fish's grandfather), try a fishing village meal with wooden fish, participate in making wooden fish sculptures, learn about strange stories about fish species, fishing culture and many other unique customs and practices.

Tourist destination 2 is the fish - steel tourist area. The place where the love story of the fish girl and the steel boy took place. (Location at Deo Con - Vung Ang Industrial Park - Ha Tinh).

Tourists will witness the love story of the fish girl - the steel boy and their harmonious coexistence through experiential tourism activities such as: steel fish motorbike racing, steel fish cafe, submarine tour of the steel fish museum under the sea, experience sleeping 1 night in the stomach of a steel fish (steel fish hotel), visit the museum of steel fish artworks...

Tourist destination 3 is the fish - sand tourist area (Nhat Le Beach - Quang Binh).

Tourist attraction 4 is the tourist area "How the Steel Was Tempered..." where the steel-fish practiced to pass the gate of heaven (location: Trieu An beach - Quang Tri).

Tourist destination 5 is the fish - dragon tourist area, where fish - steel are reborn and turn into dragons (location is Lang Co beach - Hue).

Humanity or show off?

Immediately after the information about the "Formosa Tour" was released, public opinion expressed doubts about the seriousness of the scientists and thought that this was a crazy idea. Discussing this new tour, Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh appeared very calm. According to Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh, it is normal for new ideas to receive mixed opinions and the scientists were mentally prepared before coming up with the idea of ​​the "Formosa Tour" for the 4 central provinces.

"We spent all our own money to research this scientific activity for the Central region, without any support from anyone. The idea of ​​the "Formosa Tour" is to save the people. We feel sorry for the people of the Central region when they lose both tourism and fish, so we have to think of another way to help people have opportunities for jobs, income from tourism..."

According to Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh, at the conference, delegates attending the workshop all had the same assessment: Formosa - Legend of the Steel Fish Transforming into a Dragon Tour is a very unique tourism product, a completely new direction of exploiting marine resources, with high intellectual content and breakthrough thinking. And, right after the end of the workshop, representatives from state and local management agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate and develop the Formosa - Legend of the Steel Fish Transforming into a Dragon Tour.

Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh believes that to save tourism in the Central region, the biggest difficulty now is still cognitive barriers: old thinking, old experiences, although outdated, are the safe way of thinking of the majority of society.

"In history, any new and groundbreaking scientific discovery has encountered barriers from traditional thinking habits. Typical examples include the Eiffel Tower (France) and the Sydney Opera House (Australia). These projects encountered a lot of public opposition when they were built. However, to date, they have all become symbolic works of those countries and are tourist attractions that earn a lot of money from visitors," said Dr. Nguyen Thu Hanh.

In recent times, four Central provinces: Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, ... have been facing unique difficulties and challenges due to the environmental disaster from the Formosa steel plant. The phenomenon of mass fish deaths over a long period of time has led to the risk of ending the existence of important marine economic sectors such as tourism and seafood, ... Even more worrying is the issue of food, food and jobs for people in the four Central provinces when the marine environment and ecosystems are heavily polluted, when there is no longer the existence of FISH - an important marine species that has fed humans for generations.

To contribute to solving the above difficulties of the 4 Central Provinces, the Scientific Union for Sustainable Tourism Development (STDe) with an interdisciplinary group of dedicated scientists has researched and proposed a completely new direction for exploiting marine resources in the 4 Central Provinces in the coming time in a smarter, more creative, more effective and more sustainable way than the methods of exploiting marine resources that have existed before in history.

According to VnMedia