Sustainability of tourism development in Vietnam's coastal provinces

This article presents achievements and limitations related to sustainable tourism development in coastal provinces of Vietnam. Through the research process, this study found that sustainable tourism development had many positive benefits for a variety of stakeholders, including community, local government, cultural and natural environment and the tourists. Although the principles of sustainable tourism development are beneficial, their implementation is an enormously difficult task due to the prevailing socio-economic context, political conditions and institutional settings in the developing world. This article assesses the current status of sustainable tourism development in coastal provinces of Vietnam, reflecting gap between the policy planning and its implementation towards that end. On that basis and based on so far achieved successes and limitations, we propose preliminary solutions for ecotourism and cultural tourism development as ways of reaching sustainability.