Lack of high quality tourism human resources

SGGPO 10/28/2023 19:40

60-80% of newly graduated candidates need to be retrained to adapt to the job; in which work attitude, foreign language proficiency... are the candidates' "weakest" skills.

On October 28, Saigon University organized a National Scientific Conference on “Training international-level human resources for the tourism industry: Current status and solutions”. At the conference, many opinions pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general are lacking high-quality tourism human resources.

Vietravel tour guide is leading a group of tourists to visit Taiwan (China)

Speaking at the workshop, Associate Professor Dr. Le Chi Lan, Vice President of Saigon University, said that in the process of international integration and globalization, tourism has become the "key" to promote the economic, cultural and social development of the country. Vietnam has many important potentials to develop tourism into a spearhead economic sector of the country. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City is the major economic, political and cultural center of the country, with many advantages for tourism development.

However, Ms. Le Chi Lan admitted that the tourism industry is being affected by many regional and global factors. Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general are lacking high-quality tourism human resources, so they need special attention from all levels of the industry.

Delegates attending the workshop October 28

Sharing privately with SGGP reporters on the sidelines of the conference, some tourism businesses in Ho Chi Minh City admitted that 60-80% of newly graduated candidates have to be retrained to adapt to the job, some businesses even retrain up to 90%; in which work attitude, foreign language proficiency... are the "weakest" skills of candidates.

Sharing the same opinion, Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Vinh, working at Long An University of Economics and Industry, cited that in the 2019 Vietnam Tourism Annual Report, there are more than 2.5 million workers working in the tourism sector.

Of these, there are about 860,000 direct workers, with 45% trained in tourism, 35% trained in other majors, and 20% untrained... After the Covid-19 pandemic, this number of workers has decreased significantly, so it needs to be supplemented urgently to meet the actual situation.

However, the paradox is that tourism human resources provided by training institutions do not meet professional and skill requirements.

“People with experience and expertise have not been trained, while those who have been fully trained in professional expertise are not yet able to work immediately and need retraining in businesses,” said Professor, Dr. Truong Quang Vinh.

To improve the quality of training so that graduates can work immediately, Mr. Truong Quang Vinh suggested building a human resource training model based on the capacity and needs of the tourism market.

In which, the training institution plays a coordinating role, responsible for participating in organizing and managing student internships at enterprises, researching the tourism market and applying it to teaching...

The coordination between training institutions and tourism enterprises is considered a condition to ensure the existence and development of both parties (training institutions - tourism enterprises). For students, it is necessary to proactively improve professional capacity, practical attitude...

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/thieu-hut-nguon-nhan-luc-du-lich-chat-luong-cao-post711789.html