Solving the human resource problem for Nghe An tourism industry
(Baonghean)-With Nghe An tourism, the human resources still have many limitations, which need to be closely evaluated and have active solutions to overcome difficulties.
Lack of local tourism management staff
For a long time, in the summary reports of the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector in general and tourism in particular, there is often an assessment line: "The tourism management staff has not met the requirements". Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung - Head of Tourism Affairs Department - Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism affirmed: "Currently, the tourism management staff in our province, especially the district-level staff, is both lacking and seriously weak".
| At the provincial level, there are currently 15 tourism officials, including 1 deputy director of the tourism department, 6 officials from the tourism department and 8 officials from the tourism promotion information center. Most of them have professional qualifications in tourism or have attended tourism training courses. However, at the district level, only 10 officials in 8 localities, namely Vinh city (2 officials), Cua Lo town, Quynh Luu, Do Luong, Nam Dan districts (2 officials), Yen Thanh, Anh Son, Quynh Chau have graduated from university or college majoring in tourism, the rest are mainly trained in culture and economics. |
According to the assessment, in general, the district-level tourism staff, when assigned the task of state management of tourism, have actively studied and consulted documents on tourism to develop tourism development plans and plans; and to manage local tourism businesses. However, because there are very few people studying tourism, the development of plans and plans is still confusing; foreign language proficiency is weak, and there are no staff who can communicate or read documents in foreign languages. On the other hand, except for the Department of Culture and Information of Cua Lo town, which has a staff member specializing in tourism, the remaining staff in all the cultural and information departments of districts and towns are concurrently employed and frequently changed.
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| The tour guide group of the Traditional Tourism Club took a souvenir photo in front of the sunflower field. |
Mr. Nguyen The Cuong (born in 1975), graduated from the Faculty of Tourism, Hue University of Sciences, is the only tourism specialist of Cua Lo Town so far. Discussing this issue, Mr. Cuong is concerned: “Although it is a key tourism area of the province, the tourism staff of the town is still too thin. Previously, the Town People's Committee had a Tourism Management Department with 5 people, but since merging with the District Culture and Information Department, there is now only 1 deputy head and a tourism specialist.”
Dien Chau is also one of the localities with strengths and potential for tourism and compared to other localities, the infrastructure for tourism development of the district is also quite good. However, the district does not have any officials specializing in tourism. Explaining this, Mr. Vo Sy Tai - Head of the district's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: "Because the number of staff assigned by the district People's Committee is only that much, it is impossible to arrange specialized officials to monitor tourism".
Limited staffing is also the reason given by many localities to explain the lack and weakness of tourism human resources. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung added that another reason is that tourism in many localities in the province is not yet developed and has not received much attention from the Party Committee and government, so the role of tourism management staff is still underestimated.
Tour guide does not meet requirements
Currently, in Nghe An, there are still many accommodation establishments, restaurants, and services that use receptionists, room attendants, chefs, etc. who do not have or lack experience in the tourism field and do not have tourism degrees. It is easy to see that during the peak tourist season at Cua Lo beach, a number of motels and restaurants hire family members such as fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, etc. to work as receptionists to welcome guests. There would be nothing to discuss if the quality of customer service were not so limited. Unprofessional service attitude; long service time... somewhat affect the quality of customer service, affecting the initial impression of customers on Nghe An tourism.
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| Representatives of travel agencies visited the Nghi Loc - Phuong Chi heritage fig tree |
On the other hand, the team of tour guides (HDV) considered as the “bridge” and “face” of tourism in the province also has many shortcomings. As of December 2015, there were more than 100 licensed tour guides working at travel centers in the province. This number is considered too small compared to the current needs of travel agencies. Mr. Ta Khac Uyen - Director of Nghe An Travel Company, Head of Nghe An Travel Association said: “The demand of travel companies must be 3 times the current number of 100 tour guides. The lack of tour guides is a headache for all travel agencies in Nghe An today. Because of the shortage, during peak season, agencies must flexibly sign seasonal contracts with collaborators and freelance tour guides who are tourism students at training institutions. This team is available, but their knowledge, skills and experience in guiding are limited; and because of the seasonal contracts, their responsibility and commitment to the profession are very weak.”
According to Mr. Ta Khac Uyen, the equally difficult problem is that travel agencies in the province are very short of international tour guides. Mr. Uyen expressed that in Nghe An, there are almost no English, French, Korean, Japanese, etc. tour guides. Currently, Nghe An Travel Company is accepting tours for several French tourist groups. According to the plan, the tour will depart during the Binh Than Tet holiday, but up to this point, the company has not yet found a tour guide who is fluent in French to lead the group. Explaining this, Mr. Uyen said that few tour guides who are well-trained and have good foreign language skills from training facilities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are willing to return to Nghe An, and the number of tour guides trained in Nghe An do not meet the requirements.
These shortcomings have created an urgent need to improve the quality of tourism human resources in both management and direct labor. Since 2011, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has annually opened training courses on state management and tourism operations to update information on the tourism industry and related policies, and improve the quality of human resources. However, this does not only depend on the efforts of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, but more importantly, requires the participation of three "houses": the State (orienting human resource development, state management, first of all at the provincial level and the tourism industry); schools (training institutions) and businesses (operating in the tourism sector).
| According to preliminary statistics, the total number of direct workers in the tourism sector in Nghe An province is currently about 11,300 people, not including workers involved in tourism in the field of passenger transport and seasonal workers. Of which, there are 38 people with master's degrees or higher, about 1,700 people with university and college degrees, and about 5,500 people with intermediate and primary tourism qualifications, meaning that high-quality human resources account for less than 2/3. Meanwhile, the total number of accommodation establishments by the end of 2015 was 665, including 1 5-star hotel, 5 4-star hotels, 12 3-star hotels and over 60 1-2 star hotels; 35 travel agencies. These travel agencies and hotels are in great need of a quality workforce to meet the requirements of serving tourists in a methodical and professional manner. |
Minh Quan - Phuong Chi
