Linking "3 houses" to train tourism human resources

(Baonghean) - The quality of human resources is an urgent issue for Nghe An tourism, especially in the face of development requirements and international integration trends. Therefore, it is necessary to soon have solutions to enhance training and foster human resources in the tourism industry, and first of all, to promote the connection between goals and practical factors in training work...

Current situation

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 a master's degree or higher (mainly in training institutions); about 1,700 people with university and college degrees, about 5,500 people with intermediate and primary tourism vocational training. The number of workers is mostly concentrated in tourist accommodation establishments with about 7,470 people (not including seasonal workers), restaurants and services with about 3,500 people, travel agencies with 120 people, the rest are in state agencies and tourism training institutions. As of September 30, 2014, the province has 662 hotels and motels, including 1 5-star hotel, 5 4-star hotels, 11 3-star hotels and over 60 1-2 star hotels; there are 32 international and domestic travel centers. These travel centers and hotels are in dire need of a quality workforce to meet the requirements of serving tourists in a methodical and professional manner.

Tourism cooperation signing ceremony between Nghe An and Da Nang, April 18, 2014. Photo: D.T

Practical session at Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce. Photo: Van Doan

Most positions such as head chef, head of desk, room service, receptionist, after being recruited, are trained through a training course at Saigontourist College of Tourism. Hotels such as Phuong Dong, Huu Nghi, Giao Te, Duy Tan, Xanh Cua Lo, etc. also have their own policies on training, professional development, and foreign languages ​​for employees. However, most accommodation establishments have not paid attention to building human resources in their business strategy, but only waited for "ready-made" labor from other units. Therefore, in recent times, the situation of attracting and disputing high-quality labor, especially among hotel managers, operators, restaurant managers, receptionists, marketers, chefs and highly skilled kitchen technicians, etc., among hotels has been quite common, disrupting the tourism business environment, significantly affecting the overall efficiency of the entire industry.

Cua Lo Beach. Photo: D.T

For travel agencies, currently in the province there are only about 72 tour guides (including 36 international tour guides), an average of 2.25 tour guides/travel center, of which 60% have university degrees, the remaining 40% have intermediate to college degrees. Most of Nghe An's international travel centers are always in a state of shortage of foreign language-proficient tour guides. Therefore, many centers are forced to hire tour guides from other provinces to pick up and drop off guests. Limited foreign language proficiency and weak professional skills lead to the inability to fully exploit tourism benefits from foreign visitors. On the other hand, foreign language proficiency is also a barrier that limits the promotion of the image of the country and people of Vietnam in general and Nghe An in particular to international friends. In the immediate future, to overcome this situation, some travel agencies have carefully selected tour guides and had to undergo training, practical training, and send them for further training in foreign languages ​​and experience at major tourist centers in the country and abroad. However, when becoming good tour guides, travel agencies are under great pressure to "retain" their workers, because the income is not as attractive as in the tourist center cities. This is the reason for the shortage and weakness of tour guide staff in Nghe An.

Regarding the current status of tourism human resource training facilities, the province currently has 7 facilities, including 2 universities, 3 colleges, and 2 vocational schools. Every year, over 2,000 students graduate from these training centers. However, the quality of these human resources still does not meet the demand, especially in important majors such as tour guides, hotel management, restaurant management, chefs, restaurant and hotel operations, etc. Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce is an institution that provides both formal training and work-study; joint training, and transfer training from intermediate and college to university; training at intermediate vocational, intermediate professional, and college levels. Every year, the school has over 1,000 students graduating from the Tourism and Hotel industry.

In addition to supplying Cua Lo Town and Vinh City, this labor force also serves the needs of other provinces such as Cat Ba (Hai Phong), Nha Trang... in which, about 1/3 of the labor force has stable jobs, the rest only work seasonally. Nghe An Provincial College of Culture and Arts started enrolling students in the Tourism major under the Faculty of Cultural Management from the 2001-2002 school year. This is the first institution in the province to provide regular intermediate training in tour guides, but the number of students enrolling is decreasing. Starting from 2012, the school opened additional vocational training majors such as business administration, travel management, restaurant management, short-term tour guides... With a training model that prioritizes more professional practice (accounting for 2/3 of the training time), focusing on tour guide, travel, table, room, and bar skills. However, the biggest difficulty of the school is that the facilities for practice do not meet the actual needs and requirements. When needed, the school has to rent by the hour at hotels, which has significantly affected the practice process of students.

Ngu Island Pagoda. Photo: D.T

King Quang Trung Temple on Dung Quyet Mountain. Photo: SM

Giang River tourism in Pu Mat National Park. Photo: SM

Another shortcoming in tourism training in Nghe An is that the vocational skills of trained workers do not meet the practical requirements of tourism businesses. Students in schools are often trained in many professions, from housekeeping, to tables, bars, kitchens... but do not specialize in any one profession. In addition, each school trains tourism human resources according to its own curriculum, which has significantly affected the quality of output. Most students who graduate lack the necessary skills to be able to immediately access the assigned job position. This is causing a waste of time, money... for businesses, learners and training facilities.

The "3 houses" connection

To synchronously resolve the above shortcomings and limitations, a comprehensive solution is needed to strengthen the role of the "3 houses": the State (orienting human resource development, state management first at the provincial level and the tourism sector); schools (training facilities) and businesses (operating in the tourism sector). The main goal of that effort is to gradually develop a training model according to demand and orders. Based on the study of the current situation of the tourism sector in Nghe An in the past and in 2014, we boldly make the following suggestions:

First of all, the “State” needs to develop a correct and clear orientation for the need to develop tourism human resources for each stage; strengthen policy-making capacity, form a legal framework and mechanism for developing high-quality human resources to serve the tourism industry. At the same time, focus on ensuring close links between state management agencies; state facilities for sustainable development of high-quality human resources, schools, training enterprises (collectively referred to as schools) and tourism businesses (enterprises) in training, fostering and using high-quality human resources for the tourism industry.

For the “school”, it is necessary to continuously improve the professional qualifications and in-depth development of the teaching staff through new training, retraining and fostering, enriching experience and practice, especially in the field of tourism that they are responsible for in all forms domestically and internationally. Complete the training program framework with the orientation of approaching advanced training programs in the world combined with developing training and fostering forms (joint training, postgraduate training, short-term training courses, etc.). Regularly organize for students to visit and learn about the real environment and strengthen cooperation and exchange with international projects in training and developing human resources. Increase investment in facilities, equipment and facilities for teaching, practice and internship of students in the Tourism industry, avoiding the current situation of “dry learning” and “salty work”.

Finally, as a “tourism business owner”, it is necessary to build a flexible salary and bonus mechanism to attract, retain and promote the role of high-quality human resources working in the enterprise. Focus on training and retraining through cooperation with schools to organize short-term training courses (sending staff to study or inviting leading experts in the tourism field) to continuously improve the quality of high-quality human resources. Have appropriate policies to create a practical learning environment for students of tourism training institutions (universities, colleges) in the area as well as actively cooperate with training institutions to support and sponsor a number of tourism human resource development training projects at training institutions.

In order to have a number of graduates with a common training level, ensuring job requirements, the tourism industry must establish basic vocational skills standards, serving the development of teaching materials at tourism training facilities as well as the basis for training, assessing skills and occupational levels of workers at enterprises. Recently, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has issued and introduced the "Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills Standards" (abbreviated as VTOS) sponsored by the EU. This will be an important basis for schools to supplement and complete teaching curricula, or in other words, these criteria will serve as a guideline to help the training of human resources in the tourism industry to follow professionalism, efficiency and gradually integrate internationally. Compared to other documents, this document guides the necessary vocational skills and training skills for a number of tourism professions. And thanks to applying this set of guidelines, the output of students at some schools has met many requirements of employers.

Nguyen Manh Cuong

Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Some pictures of tourist attractions in Nghe An:

Cua Lo Beach. Photo: D.T

Ngu Island Pagoda. Photo: D.T

King Quang Trung Temple on Dung Quyet Mountain. Photo: SM

Giang River tourism in Pu Mat National Park. Photo: SM