- Building a GIS database for ecotourism development in Ba Vi District, Ha Tay Province, Vietnam . - It plays an increasingly important role in the socio‐economic development of many districts and provinces in Vietnam. - This paper presents the results of building a GIS database for ecotourism development in Ba Vi, a large legendary mountainous district of Ha Tay Province based on field and desk investigations. - The created database consists of spatial and attributive data files related to natural and cultural resources in Ba Vi stored in a standard format of ArcView GIS that can and should be effectively retrieved, analyzed and updated to generate useful information in the form of maps, tables and charts to support ecotourism planning and management activities in the district for sustainable development. - As a tropical, developing country in the Asia Pacific region, and a new member of the World Trade Organization, Vietnam has a great potential for ecotourism development. - To fill this gap and help further development of ecotourism in the country, more studies should be carried out and their results should be widely disseminated through different channels. - This paper describes the research effort to build a GIS database for ecotourism development at the district level with special reference to Ba Vi District, Ha Tay Province in northern Vietnam, . - It is believed that the research results will serve as a sound basis for Ba Vi’s ecotourism planning and management, and the experience from Ba Vi can be applied to other districts in the country. - Ba Vi is a forested district with three mountain peaks: Dinh Vua (1298 m), Tan Vien (1227 m) and Ngoc Hoa (1180 m) surrounded by low undulated hills, and watersheds. - The rock types in Ba Vi include Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Kainozoic rocks. - Ba Vi. - The mean annual temperature is about 23‐25 0 C in the areas below 100 m, 20 0 C at 500 m, and 18 0 C at 1000 m elevations. - Stream density varies from 0,1‐1,5 km/km 2 , tending to increase as one goes farther from the Ba Vi peak. - There are three types of forest distributed on the Ba Vi Mountain: tropical humid evergreen closed forest, subtropical humid evergreen closed forest, and subtropical mixed broadleaf‐needleleaf forest. - The Ba Vi National Park (BVNP) was established in 1991 with an area of 7377 ha to conserve biodiversity. - Ba Vi District consists of a township and 31 communes with a total area of about 440.34 km 2 , and a population of about 250,000 people. - Kinh, Muong, and Dao are three major ethnic groups living in the area. - According to IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) and IDS (Institute for Development Studies) [5], Ba Vi is a poor district with 40‐50% of people live below the poverty line. - It is believed that ecotourism activity can contribute actively to poverty reduction and sustainable development in Ba Vi District. - According to statistics, the number of tourists coming to Ba Vi has been increasing [1]. - The lack of spatial and non‐spatial data necessary for ecotourism planning and management in Ba Vi can be found at both the district departments and the national park management board. - The data used to build the GIS database for ecotourism development in Ba Vi come from different sources including existing maps, atlas [7], research reports, newspapers, magazines, journals, brochures, travel guides, websites and ground survey in the form of text, maps, imagery and pictures. - They can be primary or secondary, digital or analogue that depict locations, shape, extent and attributes of natural and cultural resources in the district such as mountains, rivers, springs, falls, lakes, reservoirs, national park, forests, gardens, road network, schools and existing ecotourism sites. - They constitute the key themes and attribute tables in the designed ArcView GIS database. - The GIS database development required the use of different hardware and software. - tables in the ArcView GIS environment. - The procedure for developing the GIS ecotourism database for Ba Vi in ArcView includes data collection, data input, data management, data analysis and data output. - This work was carried out in the office and in the field. - The data management was performed to ensure efficient storage of data files on different media such as hard disk, CD, DVD and USB and in the right map projection. - The data files were analyzed by location or attribute to create Ba Vi specific themes and tables. - Finally, the output from the database was made in the form of hard copies, electronic copies using the above mentioned hardware and software tools. - As a main result, an ArcView GIS database was developed which contains spatial and attribute data files of natural and cultural resources in Ba Vi. - The themes and associated tables in the database allow one to view, query, and analyze ecotourism in Ba Vi. - For example, different ArcView GIS project files can be created containing one or more views with multiple themes that can be displayed, queried, and edited to allow for various spatial interpretations of the Ba Vi ecotourism opportunities. - Example of feature themes in the database. - An attribute table in the database. - A satellite image theme in the database. - A ground photo of tree ferns in Ba Vi National Park. - efficient marketing of ecotourism activities and destinations in the district. - In other words, from the GIS database, various outputs including maps, graphics, pictures are generated to support education, planning, management and promotion of ecotourism in Ba Vi. - generated from the GIS database can show the extent of Ba Vi District, as well as hydrology, roads and major ecotourism sites in and around BVNP, including Khoang Xanh, Ao Vua, Thac Da, Bang Ta ‐ Dam Long, Ngoc Nhi stork garden, Suoi Hai reservoir. - Ecotourism routes can be developed to connect BVNP, Suoi Hai reservoir, Ao Vua, Khoang Xanh, Dam Long or can start from VNUʹs Ba Vi Experimental Center for Ecological and Environmental Education (BVECEEE) to Ba Vi peaks. - Specific activities or products that can be developed in Ba Vi include destination lodge (ecolodges or resorts), freshwater fishing, forest walk, mountain biking, hiking, nature observation, bird watching and wildlife viewing, attending a festival, a cultural event, visiting an ethnic minority village, a historic site. - The created database is a powerful tool to explore local ecological factors, admire, and enjoy the natural beauty, biodiversity as well as cultural values of the Kinh, Muong and Dao people living in the area. - This digital source of data and information is essential to understanding and conserving the unique character of Ba Vi District. - It is a well structured database, which can be easily updated, and expanded to meet the future needs of ecotourism development in Ba Vi. - Ba Vi District, Ha Tay Province in northern Vietnam is a forested area with great ecotourism potential. - An ArcView GIS database has been developed for ecotourism development in the district using different data sources, popular GIS and other software packages. - The created GIS database is useful in thematic mapping, tabulating and charting to support education, planning, management and promotion of ecotourism in Ba Vi. - raise awareness and advertise Ba Vi ecotourism products more, faster and better. - The database can and should be used for further studies in Ba Vi ecotourism using remote sensing, GIS and GPS. - Finally, the experience of GIS database development for Ba Vi District can and should be applied to other districts in the country to better capture, store, manage, analyze and display data for sustainable ecotourism development. - [1] Ba Vi District’s People Committee, Report on the performance of tourism business, Ba Vi, 2004 (in Vietnamese). - [4] ESRI, ArcView GIS ‐ the Geographic information system for everyone