Despite encountering great difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in the opening months of 2020, it is certain that Viet Nam’s tourism sector will quickly recover after the epidemic is over, according to economic and tourism experts.

Developing human resources for tourism, international integration

Viet Nam is located in a region with fast tourism growth and is expected to be one of the world’s key focuses for tourism development in the 21st century. 

This is a good opportunity for the country’s tourism industry to grow and affirm its position in the regional and world markets. 

Therefore, it is extremely necessary to develop tourism human resources to meet the requirements of competition and integration and implement a tourism development strategy in a more radical and sustainable manner in the near future.

Great demand

In recent years, tourism in Viet Nam has made spectacular progress and has been recognized on the world tourism map. 

Viet Nam ranked seventh among countries with the highest growth of international visitors worldwide in 2019, announced the United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

Last year, the country welcomed 18 million international tourists, a year-on-year increase of 16% and served 85 million domestic visitors.

Total revenue reached more than VND720 trillion (US$31.1 billion) last year, up 16%  in comparison with 2018.

The average growth rate of visitors in three consecutive years (2016-2019) saw a 22% average increase each year.

The country is ranked as one of the ten fastest growing tourist destinations in the world.

Apart from measures to prevent and control COVID-19 epidemic and gradually restructure the tourism market, the development of qualified human resources is needed to help the sector recover after the epidemic and develop in the future.

According to statistics from the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the entire sector is in need of approximately 40,000 workers each year, but at present, the annual number of tourism graduates is only about 15,000. 

In many localities where the tourism industry is thriving, human resources are always a “headache” problem due to a severe shortage of tourism workers, especially the direct workers.

Director of HCM City’s Department of Tourism Bui Ta Hoang Vu said human resources serving the tourism sector failed to meet demand.

The city requires an increase of 12-15% in the number labourers each year, but supply cannot keep up with real demand.

The city has more than 60 establishments providing tourism training at three levels – universities, colleges and vocational schools. However, they could only meet 60% of recruitment demand.

Training should be closely linked to actual needs 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently approved a tourism development strategy by 2030, aimed at contributing to affirming the position of the tourism industry, especially high-quality human resources.

The strategy aims to turn Viet Nam into a renowned destination by 2025, ranking among the three leading countries in terms of tourism development in Southeast Asia and among the top 50 nations with the highest tourism competitiveness in the world.

By 2030, Viet Nam has set a target to make tourism a spearhead and sustainable economic sector and become one of 30 countries around the world that hold the best tourism competitiveness.

The tourism sector aims to earn VND3.1-3.2 trillion (US$130-135 billion) and create 8.5 million jobs by 2030.

The country looks to attract at least 50 million foreigners and serve 160 million domestic tourists by that time.

The strategy also devised a number of drastic measures such as the completion of tourism policies, as well as development of infrastructure, tourism workers and products.

In addition, importance will also be attached to public-private partnerships in sustainable tourism development. Advanced technology and high-quality human resources are seen as breakthrough elements to build a professional, quality and competitive tourism industry.

With that purpose, the organizations training and developing tourism human resources have been followingthe direction of promoting linkages between enterprises and schools as well as international training institutions, towards realizing the common goal of building an advanced and modern services industry with highly qualified human resources that can meet the development needs of society, and catching up with the general development of the tourism sector in the region and the world.

A number of training establishments have initially designed and effectively implemented the tourism personnel training models in the context of international integration.