High school students propose sustainable tourism solutions

Themed “Sustainable Tourism Development through Innovation”, the Amazing Vietnam Student Competition (AVSC) 2022 was open to all high school students in Grade 11 and 12 across Vietnam and held completely virtually.

After two months of preparation, the top five teams presented their proposals to judges from IHG Vietnam and Laos, Terraverde Travel, MQL Sustainable Tourism Services, and RMIT University in the final round.

The Champion title went to Team V-localS consisting of Nguyen Ngoc Duy and Nguyen Pham Quynh Trang from FPT High School, Hanoi.

They won for their idea of developing a mobile app to connect tourists, homestay providers and local people, providing different functions and information for each of the user groups.

For their project, the team conducted research on 16 homestay providers in Ba Vi district to examine the surrounding environment, available services/activities and returning visitor rate.

The data was then used to come up with innovative solutions that can support sustainable tourism across three key factors: people, planet and profit.

V-localS team members Duy and Trang both agreed: “What makes AVSC different is the quality of the judges and mentors, and the live training sessions with experts. Besides, we were asked to present our idea not only as a video and presentation slides but also as a written report, which is both a challenge and a new learning experience for us.”

For first runner-up team The Amazing 82 from Nguyen Tat Thanh High School for the Gifted in Kon Tum province, joining the competition meant new opportunities to broaden their minds.

They could research about sustainable tourism and absorb knowledge from RMIT experts while discovering new aspects of the local cultures. As a result, their idea for a community-based tourism app won over the judges.

“It was our field trip to the Kon K’Tu ancient village of the Bahnar ethnic group that made the most memorable impression on us,” team member Vo Nguyen Bao Nghi said. “The trip not only brought us closer to the Bahnar native people with their underrated surrounding beauty, cultures and lifestyles, but also forged a deep connection among the three members of our team”.

The second runner-up prize went to Team GLOCAL from Vinschool Times City. The other two teams in the Top 5 were De Phoenix from Yen Hoa High School and Tres Homines from FPT High School.

RMIT lecturer and the competition's lead organiser Dr Daisy Kanagasapapathy said: “It was delightful to see the students' passion for sustainable tourism grow as they developed their ideas further over the course of two months. Many of the proposals show great potential for practical application. The students have demonstrated a strong awareness of current issues and a solution-oriented mindset at a young age, which is very encouraging."

AVSC 2022 was one of the key events marking the fifth anniversary of the Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management program at RMIT Vietnam.

Senior Program Manager of the program at RMIT, Dr Jackie Ong said: “It is our aim to help more and more young people unleash their creativity and gain practical skills and knowledge by solving real-world problems in tourism. I’m delighted that after the success of Season 1 last year, AVSC 2022 has continued to create awareness among high school students of tourism’s role in the economy.”

Story: Ngoc Hoang