Hanoi (VNA)🅰 – Vietnam’s human resources for tourism are still insufficient both innumber and quality, posing a great challenge for the industry in the context of toughcompetition and deeper international integration.

The country has195 tourism training establishments including 65 universities, 55colleges, 71 vocational schools, four job training centres and twoestablishments run by enterprises. All of them can provide about 20,000 tourismworkers yearly while Vietnam’s tourism sector requires 40,000, according to theVietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT). Moreover, among the tourism workforce, only 43% receivedprofessional training in tourism, and just 9.7% hold university and postgraduate degrees. A report bythe Tourism Development Research Institute shows that the quality and labourproductivity in Vietnam's tourism industry are still low. For example, labourproductivity at hotels in Vietnam is only one-fifteenth compared to Singapore,one-tenth compared to Japan and one-fifth compared to Malaysia. As such, Vietnamese tourism workers have to face tough competition right on home ground. Speaking atthe workshop "Training and Utilising International Standard Tourism HumanResources in the Current Period" held in Hanoi recently, DaoManh Hung – Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Education Association said that as theASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) allowsthe movement of skilled tourism workers in the bloc, foreign tourism workersmay rush to Vietnam, posing employment threats to local workers. A lot oftourism workers from countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, andSingapore have come to Vietnam to work, and most 4- and 5-star hotels in Vietnam are employing foreign workers. With the strong recovery of tourism after theCOVID-19 pandemic, many travel businesses have resumed operation and more and more upscale accommodation establishments are opening, making the shortage of skilled tourism human resources more severe.  Hung said thatstate management agencies need to quickly standardise and launch a common training programme for tourism following regional and international standards, withinterconnectivity between training levels as well as between domestic andregional/international training institutions. Dr Doan ManhCuong from the National Assembly’s Office said that the EU-fundedEnvironmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programmehas amended the Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards (VTOS) to align it with Vietnamese regulations and international standards and ASEANstandards. Therefore,tourism training institutions need to apply the VTOS in teaching to improve theeffectiveness of tourism vocational training in Vietnam, Cuong said, addingthat training time at enterprises should not be less than 50% of the total duration of the training programme./.