This paper qualitatively assesses COVID-19's impact on the tourism industry in Vietnam and the Vietnamese government and tourism industry's responses to the pandemic. It includes data from government ...media sources, semi-structured interviews with 30 managers of travel enterprises, and two group discussions with 50 representatives of tourism and hospitality businesses in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Its findings indicate that Vietnam's tourism sector responded passively in the first stages of the pandemic and then responded reactively and successfully alongside the Vietnamese government's planned re-opening of society and the economy. In particular, it shows how government authorities and tourism companies are implementing strategies to encourage domestic tourism and boost the sector's economic recovery. This paper also explores how various tourism stakeholders in Vietnam (a) see the pandemic as an opportunity to restructure various practices and yet (b) have not prepared contingency plans and long-term strategies to help prevent and mitigate the risks to the industry posed by future crises. This paper concludes by reflecting on how the pandemic illustrates the need for proactive efforts to prepare reduction and readiness strategies and draw up initiatives for long-term development of tourism in Vietnam.
The discussion on agrotourism development has focused on the perspectives of several tourism stakeholders, however, limited research has explored the viewpoints of tour guides operating in this area. ...This research investigated tour guides’ perspectives on agrotourism development in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, to explore why agrotourism in this region remains an underexploited potential. We conducted interviews from October 2020 to July 2021 with 30 tour guides who have had opportunities and authentic experiences of tourism development based on their rich travel experiences in the region. This qualitative research showed that the Mekong Delta has a great potential for agrotourism development in Vietnam; however, many challenges prevent the same. Farmers face difficulties in creating attractive tourism products and activities, as they lack the capacity to broadly advertise. Agrotourism products are also similar in many tourist destinations in the region. Furthermore, regional coordination and partnership among stakeholders are lacking in agrotourism. A consistent tourism policy should be implemented among provinces to develop tourism more effectively. These findings inform rural development policymakers and expand the agrotourism literature by elucidating tour guides’ perspectives, which have received scant attention.
This study examines the complexities of cultural-heritage management in Vietnam and the various tensions that arise within initiatives promoting "authentic" versions of cultural practice. In ...particular, this research investigates local perceptions concerning the commodification of the Cham New Year (Rija Nâgar) at temple-tower complexes, and explores the implications of sacred religious holidays (ngày lễ) that are organized as festival (lễ hội) events. Arranged by local Vietnamese officials, the implementation of these events for tourists contradicts important Cham worldviews, leading to negative perceptions of tourism among community members, and fears that such practices pose irrevocable damage for Cham spirituality and the future of their ancestral heritage. This research underscores the importance of community involvement with respect to decision making in cultural-heritage management, and that heritage tourism in Vietnam, and Southeast Asia more generally, may be dramatically improved with guidance from indigenous voices and local spiritual leaders.
Although the impact of tourism and COVID-19 has been paid much attention, limited research considers the perspectives from local people working in tourism, especially those affected by the pandemic ...the most. This article examines the perspectives of tourism labors in Nha Trang, Vietnam on the dual impacts of tourism and the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives and the local economy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 participants working in different fields in a tourism sector. Results revealed that that before the COVID-19 hit Nha Trang, tourism had both positive and negative impacts on local people and economy. These impacts are differently among local people and economy. While tourism had improved the quality of local people lives who ran business relating to tourism activities such as hotels, restaurants, the tourism had damaged the local economy such as overloaded infrastructure and tourist facilities, lack of quality control of tourism, unfair competition between tourism companies, traffic congestion and floods in the city, and "zero-dollar tour". When the COVID-19 hit, the local tourism firms had broken down, particularly firms target their services at foreign visitors. To deal with these challenges of tourism under the impact of COVID-19, this study also found out sustainable approaches such as diversifying sources of tourists, multiplying local people's sources of income, and improving the local government's tourism management. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
This study examines the impact of the homestay tourism program in Mekong Delta, Vietnam, on women’s participation and empowerment in rural tourism development. As part of this study, 22 interviews ...were conducted with homestay owners to explore the benefits and challenges of women’s involvement in this type of tourism. The findings show that homestay tourism program has helped women to generate extra income, strengthen family ties, and increase their social influence while reducing domestic violence. However, cultural expectations and gender roles continue to pose challenges. This study underscores the importance of women’s participation in homestay tourism program and provides suggestions for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in tourism development. The study highlights the potential of women’s involvement in creating a sustainable and inclusive tourism industry and calls for further research and action to promote gender equality and women’s rights in tourism. The findings have practical implications for policymakers and practitioners in the tourism sector.
A MIL-53(Fe) analogue was successfully synthesized by a HF free-solvothermal method. The sample was characterized by XRD, N
2
adsorption (BET), TEM, FTIR, XPS and AAS. From the N
2
...adsorption-desorption isotherms, it can be seen that the structure of MIL-53(Fe) in the anhydrous form exhibits closed pores with almost no accessible porosity to nitrogen gas. The XPS results reveal that Fe is really incorporated into the MIL-53(Fe) framework. In the hydrated form, the pores of MIL-53(Fe) are filled with water molecules. Thus, MIL-53(Fe) exhibited a very high adsorption capacity of As(
v
) in aqueous solution (
Q
max
of 21.27 mg g
−1
). Adsorption kinetics data revealed that As(
v
) adsorption isotherms fit the Langmuir model and obey the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation.
A MIL-53(Fe) analogue was successfully synthesized by a HF free-solvothermal method.
In this study, the operation parameters of a partial nitrification process (PN) treating saline wastewater were optimized using the Box–Behnken design via the response surface methodology (BBD-RSM). ...A novel strategy based on the control of the carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N), alkalinity/ammonia ratio (K/A), and salinity in three stages was used to achieve PN in a sequence batch reactor. The results demonstrated that a high and stable PN was completed after 50 d with an ammonia removal efficiency (ARE) of 98.37 % and nitrite accumulation rate (NAR) of 85.93 %. Next, BBD-RSM was applied, where ARE and NAR were the responses. The highest responses from the confirmation experiment were 99.9 % ± 0.04 and 95.25 % ± 0.32 when the optimum C/N, K/A, and salinity were identified as 0.84, 2, and 5.5 (g/L), respectively. The results were higher than those for the nonoptimized reactor. The developed regression model adequately forecasts the PN performance under optimal conditions. Therefore, this study provides a promising strategy for controlling the PN process and shows how the BBD-RSM model can improve the PN performance.
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•A synthetic strategy was used for partial nitrification in saline wastewater.•This strategy controlled the C/N ratio, K/A ratio, and salinity instead of DO.•Ammonia oxidation and nitrite accumulation were optimized by the BBD-RSM model.•Optimal C/N and K/A ratios and salinity were 0.84, 2, and 5.5 g/L, respectively.•ARE = 99.9 % ± 0.04 and NAR = 95.25 % ± 0.32 occurred under optimal conditions.
In this work, the influences of carbon on structure, magnetic properties and Cr(VI) absorption efficiency of carbon-encapsulated MnFe
2
O
4
nanoparticles (MFO/C NPs) are studied. SEM images indicate ...that the fabricated MnFe
2
O
4
nanoparticles (MFO NPs) are enveloped by carbon layers, forming encapsulating structure. By the BET analysis, it is demonstrated that the average specific surface area of MFO/C samples is higher than that MFO sample. From FTIR and XPS spectra, the presence of carbon-coated MnFe
2
O
4
nanoparticles is confirmed. It is found that the Cr(VI) absorption efficiency of the MFO/C NPs first increases to reach the maximum value at 5% C concentration, and then decreases with the further increment of C concentration. The maximum absorption efficiency and capacity of 90.1% and 73.26 mg/g are obtained, respectively. Finally, a removal mechanism for the removal of Cr(VI) is proposed. The obtained results demonstrate that the carbon-encapsulated MnFe
2
O
4
NPs is a promising candidate as an advanced absorbent for the removal of Cr(VI) from wastewater.
The present paper proposes a novel model for estimating the free-volume size of porous materials based on the analysis of various experimental ortho-positronium (o-Ps) lifetime data. The model is ...derived by combining the semi-classical (SE) physics model, which works in the region of large pores (pore size R> 1 nm), with the conventional Tao-Eldrup (TE) model, which is applicable only for the small-pore region (R< 1 nm). Thus, the proposed model, called the hybrid (HYB) model, is able to smoothly connect the o-Ps lifetimes in the two regions of the pore. Moreover, by introducing the o-Ps diffusion probability parameter (D), the HYB model has reproduced quite well the experimental o-Ps lifetimes in the whole region of pore sizes. It is even in a better agreement with the experimental data than the most up-to-date rectangular TE (RTE) and Tokyo models. In particular, by adjusting the value of D, the HYB model can also describe very well the two defined sets of experimental o-Ps lifetimes in the pores with spherical and channel geometries. The merit of the present model, in comparison with the previously proposed ones, is that it is applicable for the pore size in the universal range of 0.2−400 nm for most of porous materials with different geometries.
•A novel model for estimating free-volume size of porous materials.•Smooth connection of pore size from quantum to classical regime.•Ortho-positronium diffusion probability affected by pore size and geometry.
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