Nghe An tourism human resources are lacking and weak.
(Baonghean) - The 2019 tourist season has begun. Besides concerns about infrastructure systems, building unique products, connecting tours and routes to expand space, the tourism industry is really having a "headache" with solving the problem of human resources to meet development requirements.
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| Developing community tourism in Con Cuong. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Still lacking and weak
According to the Department of Tourism, in the period 2013-2018, the number of direct and indirect workers in the industry increased by an average of 7-8% per year. The number of young workers trained and fostered in professional skills is increasing and accounts for a large proportion (nearly 50%). Of which, tourist accommodation establishments account for 65%, restaurants 30%, the rest are travel agencies, transportation, tourist attractions, tourism training establishments, and administrative units.
Up to now, the workforce in the tourism industry in Nghe An is about 15,000 people. There are currently 7 tourism training facilities in the province, including 3 universities, 3 colleges and 1 secondary school. Every year, hundreds of students are provided for tourism businesses.
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| In 2019, Cua Lo strives to welcome and serve 3.15 million tourists. Photo: Document |
Lack of staff to manage and operate small and medium hotels, travel managers, professional tour guides, interpreters and workers who are good at foreign languages, have good professional skills, and are highly skilled in hotel and restaurant business, and business of tourist areas and attractions. The number of trained and certified staff is still limited, mainly in 3-4 star hotels.
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| Community tourism sites have been prepared for the tourist season and will be ideal destinations for visitors to experience. Photo: Ba Hau |
About to open the beach tourism season, along with promoting, urban beautification, attracting investment and environmental sanitation, enhancing food safety and hygiene, Cua Lo town is also urgently preparing human resources.
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| Thanh Chuong tea island attracts local and foreign tourists, international tourists. Photo: document |
According to Mr. Vo Van Tho - Head of the Town Culture Department, Cua Lo said: "Currently, most of the accommodation and service businesses are recruiting staff, and the tourism training schools in the area cannot meet the demand in terms of quantity. Therefore, we have often had to recruit untrained people. We are planning to train this staff to improve service efficiency."
The most difficult thing at present is the problem of human resources serving hotels and restaurants, from management positions, reception to food preparation. This is due to many reasons, the most basic of which is that Cua Lo tourism is still "seasonal", the peak season is only 4 months/year, the remaining months are quite quiet, leading to unstable demand for human resources.
Along with Cua Lo, Nam Dan is a key area for tourism development, in which the Kim Lien National Special Relic Site and the Phan Boi Chau National Special Relic Site are the "highlights". The human resources of the tourism industry in Nam Dan are invested quite comprehensively in both quantity and quality, with a total of 100 well-trained people in the two above-mentioned relic sites alone, not to mention nearly 1,000 people working at food and accommodation establishments.On normal days, that number of people can meet the needs of tourists, but on holidays and weekends, the number of visitors increases dramatically, making it very difficult. Quote
In Western Nghe An, Con Cuong is one of the localities that is assessed to have made progress in tourism development, especially eco-tourism and community tourism.
There is currently no department specializing in tourism; reception and guidance of guests are still done by staff and rangers.
Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong - Director of Pu Mat National Park said: The number of foreign visitors is increasing day by day, while the staff and people at community tourism sites very few know foreign languages, so it is inevitable that there will be problems.
Expanding scale, improving training quality
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| Emperor Quang Trung Temple (Vinh City, Nghe An) is a spiritual and cultural tourist destination that attracts visitors from inside and outside the province, especially at the beginning of the New Year. Photo courtesy |
Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of the Department of Tourism said that to overcome the shortage and weakness of human resources, the immediate task is to invest funds to train and improve the skills and qualifications of human resources.
Specifically, promote the training to improve professional capacity for state management staff in tourism; hotel, restaurant and travel agency management. Provide training to improve qualifications, professional skills, foreign languages for tour guides, interpreters, food processing techniques... to meet national tourism vocational skills standards and international practices. Regularly organize professional competitions and skilled worker competitions to honor individuals with professional qualifications and skills.
In the long term, it is necessary to diversify training and development forms to suit the needs of developing tourism human resources in the province, linking vocational training facilities with businesses, encouraging training according to addresses and orders. Strive to have the rate of trained and professionally developed workers reach 65-70% by 2020.
In addition, training institutions are paying more attention to innovating training programs towards regional and global approaches. Combining theoretical training with practical skills as well as practical experience and professional work handling skills.
Strengthening international cooperation and linkages in tourism human resource training and development, inviting experienced experts working in tourism businesses to teach some content to help students grasp practical knowledge...
Recently, at a working session with the Department of Tourism, when discussing solutions to overcome difficulties in human resources, gradually turning tourism into a spearhead economic sector, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy gave instructions: "The Department of Tourism needs to research, advise and propose to the Provincial People's Committee to direct vocational schools in the area to open more training codes on Tourism (from intermediate level and above), ensuring professionalism and meeting practical requirements".
