Article 2: Businesses and localities left to fend for themselves, to save themselves?!
Faced with difficulties due to a shortage of both the quantity and quality of human resources, tourism businesses and localities in the province have sought every means to survive and continue operating, serving tourists.
Cong KienSeptember 21, 2024
Faced with difficulties due to a shortage of both the quantity and quality of human resources, tourism businesses and localities in the province have sought every means to survive and continue operating, serving tourists.
Recently, the Hon Mat Eco-tourism Area (Nghia Dan district) has been struggling to recruit trained tourism professionals. Faced with this situation, the company's leadership has been forced to implement a strategy of both recruiting and training. This means hiring unskilled laborers and assigning skilled workers to mentor and guide those without training.
At the same time, Hon Mat Eco-tourism Area regularly sends its staff to participate in technical training programs in all areas such as: housekeeping, bartending, chef training, on-site tour guide training, program consulting, etc. The area is strengthening customer service and digital transformation in business management and operation to better improve its services and meet the increasingly high demands of customers.
Mr. Dang Trong Tan, Director of Hon Mat Eco-tourism Area, said: “We are collaborating with Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce to find human resources for our tourism business, but we are facing difficulties. In addition, we are working with partners who are human resource providers to supply quality, competent personnel with experience in the restaurant and hotel business.”
Like other accommodation establishments in the province, Saigon Kim Lien Hotel (Vinh City) is also facing a shortage of skilled tourism personnel to support its business operations and maintain service quality. Currently, the hotel's workforce is short by approximately 28% (equivalent to about 36 employees) compared to previous years. This shortage has significantly impacted business operations and service quality for customers, for example, by streamlining service procedures; failing to meet 4-star room hygiene standards; and staff lacking proficiency in foreign languages when communicating with international guests.
To address the labor shortage, the management of Saigon Kim Lien Hotel has redeployed staff between its two locations in Vinh City and Cua Lo town to provide additional support during peak seasons or to reinforce the Cua Lo branch during busy periods. They also hire some hourly workers (students from various schools) to work during peak times when the current staff cannot handle a large number of guests (weddings, conferences, etc.). Furthermore, they hire additional staff from other accommodations in Vinh City on an hourly or daily basis as needed. Simultaneously, they collaborate with schools in Nghe An province (Vinh University, Vinh Industrial University, Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce, etc.) to accept vocational students for internships and practical training with benefits (monthly stipends, meal allowances, accommodation support, etc.).
Mr. Dinh Trung Kien, Deputy Director of Saigon Kim Lien Hotel, said that to improve the quality of human resources, the unit also conducts internal cross-training to support each other in different departments when needed. For example, reception staff know room service; sales staff know reception service; kitchen staff know restaurant service; restaurant staff know kitchen service… In addition, they invite some experts from hotels in the Saigontourist Group to provide training for the reception, restaurant, kitchen, and housekeeping departments… or send some staff to intern at 5-star hotels in the system.
This approach is also applied by the Muong Thanh Hotel system in Nghe An. Muong Thanh Song Lam Hotel, in particular, is currently short of about 20% of its workforce. To address this, the company regularly recruits and supplements its staff from tourism-related graduates. Simultaneously, it organizes internal cross-training, meaning employees from one department participate in training programs from other departments to support each other when needed, increasing productivity and efficiency. Experts within the group are regularly invited to conduct training and professional development courses for staff, prioritizing newly recruited employees to participate in training courses organized by the Department of Tourism; when there is a large influx of guests, additional staff from other hotels within the group are mobilized.
Not only do hotels and travel companies train their own staff to meet service demands, but now tourism officials in districts also have to train themselves to meet the requirements of their assigned tasks.
The reality is that tourism management officials in many localities lack formal training, leading to a shortage and weakness in professional skills and expertise, which has significantly affected the effectiveness of tourism management and development in the area. To date, only Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, and Nam Dan District in the province have tourism officials who have received proper specialized training, while in the remaining districts and towns, most tourism officials are trained in cultural management and other fields.
Tan Ky District has great potential for developing ecotourism, community-based tourism, and adventure tourism. However, none of the staff at the District's Department of Culture and Information have received specialized training in tourism.
Assigned to be in charge of tourism, a field outside her area of study, Ms. Tran Thi Huong, the tourism officer at the Culture and Information Department of Tan Ky District, always strives to learn and meet the demands of her job. Every day, she dedicates time to reading various documents and magazines on tourism and tries to relate them to local realities. Whenever relevant departments and agencies organize professional training courses, she actively participates.
I also reach out to experts and lecturers so that whenever I encounter difficulties, I can call them to discuss and find solutions. Thanks to this, my professional work is becoming increasingly smooth, allowing me to help the facility overcome difficulties and provide advice and guidance to tourist destinations in the area.”
Ms. Tran Thi Huong - tourism officer, Department of Culture and Information, Tan Ky District
Currently, the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district does not have any staff trained in tourism. In terms of potential, Tuong Duong has many advantages for developing ecotourism and community tourism, due to its abundant natural resources. In recent years, the district has implemented several tourism models in the communes of Tam Dinh, Yen Hoa, Yen Thang, and Luu Kien, but the results have not been very effective.
Like many of his colleagues, Mr. Vo Dinh Tuan, an officer in the Culture and Information Department of Tuong Duong District, was assigned the task of managing and monitoring tourism activities in the area. This job, which didn't align with his training, presented numerous challenges. Initially, he felt overwhelmed when approaching tourist destinations because he lacked a clear understanding of business operations and management processes. With no other option, Mr. Tuan had to independently update his knowledge and improve his professional skills by reading textbooks and documents and participating in training courses for tourism management officials.
In 2024, Nghe An province aims to welcome a total of 5,500,000 overnight tourists (104% compared to 2023), including 120,000 international tourists (155% compared to 2023), and achieve tourism service revenue of 9,000 billion VND (115% compared to 2023). To achieve this goal, first and foremost, all activities and service capacity of businesses in the tourism industry must be maximized, and the role of human resources is indispensable. It is known that the Nghe An Department of Tourism has coordinated with relevant units to plan for training and supplementing the currently 부족한 human resources.
(To be continued)
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