The prime minister-approved master plan for Vietnam's tourism system through 2030 with a vision towards 2045, emphasises that human resources is a vital factor in enhancing tourism quality.
With immense potential in natural landscapes, culture, and people, Vietnamese tourism is becoming increasingly attractive to both domestic and international visitors.
However, it must be acknowledged that human resources are lacking in quantity and limited in quality, failing to adequately meet the rising demands of tourism services.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the industry requires about 40,000 workers annually, but the actual supply only meets around 20,000. Among these, only approximately 10% have university or postgraduate qualifications; over 50% hold vocational or college degrees; and about 40% are below vocational level. Only 43% of tourism workers have received professional training.
This indicates that there are still significant gaps in Vietnam's tourism labour force that need to be addressed to align with current demands.
The root cause of this situation begins with training. Educational institutions for tourism human resources have not met market demands in terms of both quantity and quality.
Statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs reveal that there are currently 407 training institutions for tourism across the country. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 international travel companies nationwide are consistently short-staffed, relying on both training institutions and self-training.
The most lacking skills among current tourism human resources include skills related to professional knowledge, IT proficiency, foreign languages, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Training institutions currently lack standardised processes, and there is insufficient collaboration between domestic and international entities. As such, operations remain fragmented, which reduces the competitiveness of Vietnamese tourism.
Various solutions related to training and developing human resources were proposed at a seminar on the role of stakeholders in training and developing tourism human resources, which was organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in mid-November.
Participants at the event stressed that further coordination and connection among government management agencies, relevant ministries and sectors, associations, as well as vocational training organisation is needed to meet the increasing demands of tourism.
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Training institutions need to renovate their training methods so that human resource in tourism can catch up with the current technology and strong digital transformation. (Photo: toquoc.vn) |
They emphasised that training institutions need to renovate their training methods so that human resource in tourism can catch up with the current technology and strong digital transformation.
Specifically, Vietnam needs to grasp trends and forecast related to tourism human resource training. Traditional training methods will not yield a workforce capable of meeting market demands. There is a need for innovative approaches in terms of the scale, methodology, and content of training.
Digital initiatives such as digital curricula and AI technology applications in teaching should be prioritised to ensure high-quality human resources proficient in skills, foreign languages, and technology.
More attention should be given to in-depth training models to proactively develop high-quality human resources capable of competing with tourism sectors in the region and globally.
Diverse training formats such as formal education, part-time study-work programmes, and distance learning should be implemented to provide manpower for businesses effectively while reducing shortages and imbalances across various job sectors within tourism sector.
