The Cat Tien National Park, located in the south of Vietnam, is
expected to welcome over 26,000 visitors in 2015 based on its ecotourism
development.
According to the park’s director,
Nguyen Van Dien, more than 2,500 vacationers toured the park in 2015 as
of May 2, with the highest numbers visiting on national holidays. The
number of foreign visitors made up around 10 percent, , he said.
The management board of the park is coordinating with the provincial
authorities to promote community-based forest protection and wildfire
prevention. It also set up 22 regulations to coordinate with agencies
and units in forest protection and management, he added. The patrol
workers deal with forest land transgression and overexploitation, as
well as illegal transport of forest products.
At the
same time, a socio-economic development programme is also being carried
out to improve the living standards of locals, especially those from
ethnic minority areas.
Local authorities plan to work with the park officers to introduce brocade weaving products and promote ecotourism.
Cat Tien National Park covers an area of over 71,000 ha and belongs to
the three provinces of Dong Nai, Lam Dong and Binh Phuoc. In 2001, the
park was recognised by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserved zone.
It is home to 1,300 species of vascular plants, including 34 listed in
the Vietnam Red Book, together with 77 mammals, 318 birds, 58 reptiles,
28 amphibians and 130 fish.-VNA