Vietnam has signed three agreements with the Asian Development Bank for $60.5 million of loans to finance infrastructure repairs, fight poverty and develop its sustainable tourism sector, the ADB said.

A part of the loan, worth $10 million, will help develop the sustainable tourism sector in five provinces: Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue.

The project aims at developing and maintaining tourism infrastructure, improving human resources and outlining marketing strategies, the ADB said.

International visitors to Vietnam in November estimated 279,904 arrivals. Totally, international visitors in 11 months of year 2008 reached 3,877,745 arrivals, 1.1% higher than those in the same period of year 2007.

Seen as a major sustainable tourism destination, the IFC (a division of the World Bank) has a tourism development project based in the country to co-ordinate tourism throughout the Mekong region.

IFC-MPDF is a multi-donor funded initiative set up by the International Finance Corporation in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, to reduce poverty through sustainable private sector development. IFC-MPDF’s donors are the Asian Development Bank, Australia, Canada, European Union, Finland, IFC, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Tourism Programme improves the sustainability of the rapidly emerging tourism sector in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The Facility targets tourism because of its great importance to economies in the Mekong region and strong potential to grow. At the destination level, common issues include short lengths of stay and limited net benefits to local communities.

Stay-another-day.org is an initiative by the Mekong Private Sector Development Facility (IFC-MPDF), a multi-donor funded initiative set up by the International Finance Corporation in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, to reduce poverty through sustainable private sector development. The Stay Another Day booklet for Cambodia was published with support from German Technical Corporation (GTZ) Private Sector Promotion Program. For further information, visit www.stay-another-day.org.

Valere Tjolle