VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s fast growing tourism sector is in dire need of quality personnel but schools have not been able to meet that demand, heard a workshop in HCMC last week.

A representative from HCMC-based NetSpace Cooking School speaks at a workshop in HCMC last Friday on human resource development for the tourism sector – Photo: Dao Loan

Vu The Binh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), said the country has several hundred tourism schools but the quality of their training is low, turning out few well-trained workers for the sector.

“Without critical changes, tourism workers of other ASEAN countries will rush to Vietnam as they do not require higher salaries than locals but they possess higher skills,” he told the Daily on the sidelines of the workshop on human resource development for the tourism sector in the ASEAN integration process.

Data provided at the event shows the country has 346 tourism training centers but those graduating from these schools must undergo further training after they are employed by travel firms.

The number of tourism students who can land a job right after graduation is low. Tour companies said most of the fresh graduates lack skills, including those of English which is a must for tourism workers.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2.25 million Vietnamese had been employed in the tourism sector as of 2015, with 750,000 of them directly working with tourists.

In the next five years, the demand for tourism and hospitality workers will rise 20%, said Binh. More enterprises have entered the tourism market and hundreds of new hotels will be inaugurated, he said, adding tourism schools should be restructured so that they can provide the market with better people.

Some universities said at the workshop that Vietnam has yet to set out criteria for tourism training, so each school has its own curriculum and training standards.

Nguyen Quyet Thang, dean of the tourism, restaurant and hotel management department of HCMC University of Technology (Hutech), said Hutech has been cooperating with tourism companies to train the right people for them.

SGT