Lesson 2: Businesses and localities "swim on their own" and "save themselves"?!
Faced with difficulties due to a shortage in quantity and quality of human resources, tourism businesses and localities in the province have sought every way to survive, continue to maintain business and serve tourists.
Cong Kien• September 21, 2024
Faced with difficulties due to a shortage in quantity and quality of human resources, tourism businesses and localities in the province have sought every way to survive, continue to maintain business and serve tourists.
Recently, Hon Mat Ecotourism Area (Nghia Dan District) has been unable to recruit workers who have been trained in tourism. Faced with this situation, business leaders have been forced to implement a plan to both recruit and train workers. That is, recruit unskilled workers, and assign skilled workers to mentor and guide those who have not been trained.
At the same time, Hon Mat Eco-tourism Area regularly sends employees to participate in technical training programs in all stages such as: Room service, bartending, chef training, on-site tour guides, program consulting... Strengthening customer care services and digital transformation in business management and operation to be able to better improve the services of the tourist area and the increasing demands of customers.
Mr. Dang Trong Tan - Director of Hon Mat Eco-tourism Area said: "We are cooperating with Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce to find human resources to serve the tourism business but are facing difficulties. Along with that, working with partners who are human resource suppliers to be able to provide qualified human resources with capacity, who have experience in the fields of restaurant and hotel business".
Like other accommodation establishments in the province, Saigon Kim Lien Hotel (Vinh City) is also lacking skilled tourism human resources to serve business activities and meet service quality requirements. Currently, the hotel's human resources are about 28% short (equivalent to about 36 workers) compared to previous years. The shortage of human resources has significantly affected business activities and service quality for customers, such as shortening the service process; room hygiene not meeting 4-star standards; staff not proficient in foreign languages when communicating with international guests.
To overcome the labor shortage, the Board of Directors of the Saigon Kim Lien Hotel has mobilized labor between the two units in Vinh City and Cua Lo Town to increase support during peak season or to reinforce the Cua Lo branch during peak season. Hire some hourly workers (students) to work at times when the number of guests is too large (weddings, conferences, etc.) that the current staff cannot serve. Hire workers from some accommodation establishments in Vinh City to serve by the hour, by the day, etc. when necessary. At the same time, coordinate with schools in Nghe An (Vinh University, Vinh University of Industry, Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce, etc.) to accept students who have been trained in vocational training for practice and internship with benefits (monthly allowance, meal allowance, 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 between departments when needed. For example, receptionists know room service; market sales staff know receptionist service; kitchen staff know restaurant service; restaurant staff know kitchen service... At the same time, some experts from hotels in the Saigon Tourist Group system are invited to train the reception, restaurant, kitchen, housekeeping departments... or send some employees to practice at 5-star hotels in the system.
The above method is also applied by the Muong Thanh Hotel system in Nghe An. Muong Thanh Song Lam Hotel alone is currently short of about 20% of its staff. To overcome this situation, the company regularly recruits and supplements students who have graduated from tourism majors. At the same time, cross-training is organized internally, meaning that employees of one department participate in learning the professional skills of another department to support each other when necessary, increasing productivity and work efficiency. Experts in the group are regularly invited to organize training courses to improve the professional skills of the staff, giving priority to newly recruited employees, participating in training courses organized by the Department of Tourism; when there are large numbers of guests, human resources will be mobilized and increased from hotels in the group.
Not only hotels and travel companies train their own human resources to meet service needs, but now tourism officials in districts also have to train themselves to meet the requirements of assigned tasks.
The reality is that tourism management staff in many localities are not properly trained, leading to a lack of and weakness in professional qualifications and skills, which has significantly affected the effectiveness of tourism management and development in the area. Up to now, in the province, only Vinh city, Cua Lo town, and Nam Dan district have tourism staff trained in the right major, while the remaining districts and towns have tourism staff trained in Cultural Management and other majors.
Tan Ky district is a locality with great potential for developing eco-tourism, community tourism and adventure tourism. Meanwhile, none of the staff of the district’s Department of Culture and Information have been trained in tourism.
Being assigned to be in charge of tourism, which is not in line with her training major, Ms. Tran Thi Huong - the officer in charge of tourism, Department of Culture - Information of Tan Ky district always tries to learn and try to meet the requirements of the job. Every day, she spends time reading documents and magazines about tourism and tries to connect with local reality. Whenever the relevant departments and branches open professional training courses, she actively participates.
I also approach experts and lecturers so that whenever I encounter any problems, I can call them to discuss and find solutions. Thanks to that, my professional work is increasingly convenient, I can help the facility overcome difficulties and advise and orient tourist destinations in the area."
Ms. Tran Thi Huong - tourism officer, Department of Culture and Information, Tan Ky district
For the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district, there are currently no staff trained in tourism. In terms of potential, Tuong Duong has many advantages to develop eco-tourism and community tourism, because the resources here are quite rich. In recent years, the district has implemented the construction of a number of tourism models in the communes of Tam Dinh, Yen Hoa, Yen Thang and Luu Kien but the efficiency is not high.
Like many colleagues, Mr. Vo Dinh Tuan, an officer of the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district, was assigned to manage and monitor tourism activities in the area. The job did not match his training, so he encountered many difficulties. Initially, he was confused when approaching tourist destinations because he did not fully understand the business and operation process. With no other choice, Mr. Tuan had to update his knowledge and improve his professional qualifications by reading textbooks, documents and attending training courses for tourism managers.
In 2024, Nghe An province aims to welcome a total of 5,500,000 tourists with accommodation (equal to 104% compared to 2023), including 120,000 international visitors (equal to 155% compared to 2023), tourism service revenue reaching 9,000 billion VND (equal to 115% compared to 2023). To achieve the above goal, first of all, all activities as well as service capacity of enterprises in the tourism industry must be most effective, in which the role of human resources is indispensable. It is known that Nghe An Department of Tourism has connected related units to plan to train and supplement the shortage of human resources.
(To be continued)
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