Con Dao, or Con Lon island, a cultural, historical and spiritual tourist destination of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, is undergoing dramatic changes in its pursuit of the goal of building and developing a green, circular economic model based on the promotion of natural resources and a system of special national historical relics.

One of the most impressive points for tourists, especially those who have been to Con Dao in previous years, is the movement to respond to the "Green Gift Basket" campaign that has spread strongly, contributing to significantly reducing the amount of plastic waste as well as discouraging the burning of votive paper at destinations in Con Dao.

Many environmental protection programs
For a long time, most tourists coming to Con Dao mainly came to pay their respects to the tomb of Miss Sau - Hero of the People's Armed Forces Vo Thi Sau. In previous years, in addition to fruits and flowers, there were also items such as clothes, shoes, votive paper money, etc. decorated on the offerings to Miss Sau. However, Con Dao has now undergone many changes in its campaign to build a green, clean and beautiful Con Dao environment.

A tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, said that every year, she goes to Con Dao to make offerings to Co Sau. This year, when she went to buy offerings, she was quite surprised to see that the offerings did not include votive paper, but instead contained real items. Explaining this change, the sales staff said that currently, cemeteries and relics in Con Dao implement "Green Offering Baskets" on all days of the year. Accordingly, pilgrims are not allowed to make offerings of votive paper, write petitions, burn votive paper, use disposable plastic items, and the offering trays are not allowed to use floral foam. Customers making offerings are only allowed to offer fresh flowers with fruit, the "Green Offering Basket" models: do not use floral foam or the offering trays use 100% real offerings.

Many tourists commented that Con Dao still retains its pristine natural forests, and in particular, its awareness of environmental hygiene is very good. Con Dao is made up of 16 large and small islands, of which the main central island concentrates administrative agencies, residents and the entire infrastructure system serving the lives of the people and tourists. This change will contribute to raising awareness and environmental quality.

In fact, since 2023, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has had a Project on Research and Application of Circular Economic Model to Serve Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of Con Dao District in the period of 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030. The tasks and strategies set out are to address existing environmental and energy challenges in Con Dao, thereby building the foundation, infrastructure and social resources, aiming at the goal of sustainable economic development for Con Dao.

On that basis, environmental protection programs in Con Dao were implemented such as: developing a plan to Say No to the burning of votive offerings, the "Green Offering Basket" campaign, minimizing plastic waste... to focus on the goal of greening Con Dao.

Along with environmental protection programs, Con Dao also invests in building self-managed roads and sections of roads for environmental sanitation, ensuring urban beauty and order, planting flowers and trees along the roads, cleaning the environment, equipping 3-color trash cans to classify waste at source, replacing disposable plastic materials with long-lasting, environmentally friendly items... These programs have contributed to gradually greening Con Dao.

For a green Con Dao
Most tourists are increasingly interested in civilized tourism, sustainable tourism, minimizing environmental impacts and respecting local culture. Besides spiritual tourism, experiences and natural exploration in Con Dao are popular with tourists.

In 2024, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province organized a Famtrip Program to survey and connect tourist destinations in Con Dao and provinces and cities in the Southeast region in Con Dao district. Delegates attending the program conducted a survey and assessment of the potential and advantages of tourism development and proposed and introduced tours linking the Southeast region with Con Dao. Through the famtrip program, a number of new tourism programs have been formed such as: a program to visit Con Dao by speedboat; coordinating to provide a list and information of 10 beautiful and unique destinations in the province to promote to localities in the Southeast region.

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