The influence of practicing spiritual tourism on the environment in Chau Doc – An Giang – Viet Nam

Abstract

Chau Doc is a city of An Giang province in Mekong delta of Vietnam. This city has Sam Mountain with cultural and spiritual values. One of the highlights of the local spiritual culture is Ba Chua Xu (Lady Territory) shrine. Every year, this spot attracts between 3 and 5 million visitors. With a great number of tourists, the practicing of spiritual tourism has had an impact on the natural and cultural-social environment. The influence of stakeholders on the environment (nature and humanity) through the enjoyment and provision of tourism services. Stakeholders have involved in tourism activities in Chau Doc include: local authorities, service providers (food and beverage, accommodation, transportation, ...) and tourists. The practice of spiritual tourism is different from other types of tourism. Spiritual need has overwhelmed need to enjoy tourist services. With the expectation of improving economic benefits for the locality, tourism services are increasingly invested and supplemented. When economic interests are concerned, the issues of preserving natural values and cultural-social are limited, creating threat that could hurt the environment in Chau Doc. Therefore, the exploitation and development of spiritual tourism creates certain influence on the local environment. The study of the effects of spiritual tourism practice is necessary in the present context. Through field surveys, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and observations in local spiritual culture festivals from September 2016 to June 2018, this article describes and analyzes characteristics of practicing spiritual tourism in Chau Doc. Since then, the authors find out the influence of practicing spiritual tourism on natural and cultural - social environment of locality. At the same time, the authors provide some suggestions for exploiting spiritual tourism in Chau Doc.