Here are some reflections from Miquel Àngel, who has been working in the field of sustainable tourism since 1999 in Vietnam. I look forward to reading his forthcoming article about these existential issues. They were posted on LinkedIn in response to this 8.4.26 article Vietnam Aims to Lead Southeast Asia in Eco-Tourism. As you can see, he doesn’t mince words. Some light copy editing.

Note: Greenwashing is defined as “the dissemination of misleading or deceptive publicity by an organization with the aim of presenting an environmentally responsible public image.” In other words, the classic bait-and-switch.

Deconstructing false arguments:

🛑 Vietnam is far from becoming an eco-tourism powerhouse: no garbage sorting or treatment, landfills keep increasing, tourism destinations full of waste at water (Phu Quoc, Ha Long, Phan Thiet) and mountain (Sa Pa, Da Lat, Lan Biang)

🛑 Biodiversity is rich, agreed. Care is not: companies polluting coastal areas, deforestation, and illegal hunting continues and negatively affect national parks.

🛑 The “Strategic Shift Toward Sustainable Travel” will come but is still not in Vietnam: many resorts “auto-certify” themselves without audits, illegal travel & transportation companys found regularly, limited community involvement in major tourism spots.

🛑 “This transition is backed by national policy”, but such policies are rarely implemented, private “dark agreements”, zero destination mindset at any location, limited fruitful agreements.

🛑 Paid awards in terms of advertising continue in Vietnam: paying for a two or three pages report offering free night stays, but final customer already found the real game behind and not trust them anymore.

🛑 “The long-term tourism master plan through 2030 with vision to 2050” is nice on paper but is never followed or implemented. Vietnam plans only for short term, not medium or long term at all, hence many tourism related issues continue heading in the wrong direction.

🛑 “Focus on conservation alongside economic development” is not happening today, many examples.

🛑 “Promotion of “green tourism” products across regions” is too local: coconuts, rice noodles and dry fruit are nice but do not help any international promotion at all. The real marketing hasbeen never executed in Vietnam tourism activities yet (CNN, BBC short promos are not producing results).

🛑 “Ranked among the top 20 most biodiverse countries” does not show the waste scattered all over the destinations.
Visits to national parks by locals and foreign tourists are the lowest globally and not included in any tourism program at all.

🛑 “Community Driven Tourism Models” are minimal and minorities and local communities obtain very little profit compared to the large developers & multinational management companies damaging the areas. Check with “ethnic minority communities” and “local guides.” They will tell you how damaged these areas are.

Regenerative tourism and sustainable practices will not become a reality in Vietnam when individual companies are only concerned with brining value individual parties: we all must win together.

Credentials and independent audits will play a key role shortly, as smart tourist preferences for destinations with strong environmental credentials is already here in 2026.

Repeat customers are key. The return rate is among the lowest in ASEAN.

Transparency is key: addressing these will be critical to credibility as a sustainable destination.