Hotel Academy Vietnam contributes solutions to tourism development in the Mekong Delta provinces

The workshop was organized by the Economic and Urban Newspaper in collaboration with the Mekong Delta Tourism Association and the Can Tho City Department of Tourism.

Here, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Thuc Hien said that in 2023, Can Tho welcomed over 5.9 million visitors, an increase of 17% over the same period in 2022. Total tourism revenue reached over 5,400 billion VND, an increase of 32% over the same period. However, the tourism industry of Can Tho City in particular and the Mekong Delta in general is facing difficulties and challenges when tourism products and tourism methods are quite similar, not fully exploiting the potential and strengths of each locality.

Mekong Delta tourism still has a lot of room for development, contributing to the common goal of the entire tourism industry in 2024. To awaken the tourism potential of the region, according to Dr. Tran Huu Hiep - Vice President of the Mekong Delta Tourism Association, it is necessary to soon establish a coordination board for Mekong Delta tourism development, form a Mekong Delta Tourism Development Support Fund to attract resources for tourism development, and build a more attractive tourism environment for the region. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to investing in infrastructure commensurate with the potential, paying attention to the quality of human resources and creating a brand for regional tourism...

Within the framework of this workshop, many delegates said that in order to orient tourism development in the region, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that human resources are lacking in quantity and weak in skills, not meeting the needs of tourism development in the country in general and in the Mekong Delta provinces in particular.

Mr. Mai Ngoc Thuyet, Deputy Director of the Tourism Development Center - Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho City, said that human resources have not met the current tourism development needs after a long period of being affected by the COVI19 epidemic, and the quality of trained workers is also uneven. In management units, training facilities, and travel agencies, the rate of trained workers is 100%; but the rate of trained workers in tourist areas and spots is only 26.1% - the lowest in the industry. In gardens, homestays, and tourist areas, most of them are self-managed by families, and the staff are mainly unskilled workers who have not been trained or have received training in tourism skills.

According to the representative of Hotel Academy Viet (belonging to CityLand Group) - a Swiss-standard restaurant and hotel training unit, high-quality human resources must be human resources with international qualifications, trained in internationally standard programs, and fully equipped with knowledge and skills to meet job requirements in a global environment.

Representative of Hotel Academy Vietnam presented a paper at the Workshop.

To have a human resource that meets both quality and quantity, it is necessary to shape a human resource with qualifications and international integration mindset right from high school. Training activities must be closely linked to the actual requirements of enterprises. In addition to knowledge, tourism personnel also need to be equipped with soft skills, self-study skills, management skills, technology and foreign language popularization, thereby raising awareness and thinking of responsibility for the profession.

In addition, create conditions for students to participate in exchanges, field trips, and experience activities with production, business, and tourism service enterprises. Organize playgrounds, extracurricular clubs, knowledge and experience exchange groups, vocational skills competitions, tourism knowledge, with the participation of personnel, experts, and managers working in the tourism industry to share professional knowledge, stories about the profession, and create inspiration to spread to generations of students.

Standing Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association Cao Thi Ngoc Lan said that in order to enhance competitiveness and soon turn the Mekong Delta into a unique eco-tourism area of ​​Vietnam and the region, it is necessary to focus on investing in three areas: products, service quality and tourism promotion. In particular, the issue of qualifications and skills of the tourism workforce plays a key role. The Mekong Delta Tourism Association coordinates with state management agencies on tourism to focus on quickly upgrading the quality of the region's tourism workforce.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/hotel-academy-viet-nam-dong-gop-giai-phap-phat-trien-du-lich-tai-cac-tinh-dbscl-20240408125248064.htm