The workshop from May 12-18 is part of a sustainable development programme among GMS nations – Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – to reach unanimous definitions in this field.

The workshop, sponsored by the Vietnamese Government and the Mekong Institute of Thailand, also includes field trips to community-based ecotourism sites in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, helping map out an action programme on this kind of tourism among the GMS nations.

A series of reports dealing with the definition of community-based ecotourism management and planning, relations with poverty reduction and bio-diversity protection and an overview of eco-tourism in the sub-region were presented at the workshop.

Earlier, in last October, representatives from the Hue tourism vocational training school, Thailand ’s Mekong Institute and tourist experts from GMS countries conducted field trips to ecotourism sites in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.