Many tourist attractions in Nghe An are having to retrain tour guides.

Shortage of skilled human resources

The community tourism model in Lung village, Nghia Loi commune (Nghia Dan) has just been tested by the Nghe An Center for Social Sciences and Humanities (under the Department of Science and Technology) and has brought hope to the Tho ethnic people here.

However, as the old saying goes, “All beginnings are hard”, the tourism model in Lung village initially encountered many difficulties, especially in terms of human resources, from reception, guidance, explanation to processing and serving, all were lacking and untrained, even not given short-term training, so they only served what “they had”, not meeting what “customers needed”.

Ms. Le Minh Thuy - a tour guide in Lung village said: "I have not been through any training in tourism, initially I am using my knowledge of the life, culture and customs of my people to explain to tourists".

It is understandable that the budding community tourism model like Lung village is facing difficulties, because many destinations that have been operating for many years are still facing difficulties in human resources. For example, Hon Mat Ecotourism Area (Nghia Dan) has been known to many tourists, but is still facing difficulties in labor resources, especially the chefs and receptionists.

The accommodation sector is not any better as human resources are scarce due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, many workers have changed jobs, while vocational schools cannot provide training in time to meet the demand. That forces some accommodation establishments to use untrained workers, leading to a decline in service quality.

Ms. Cao Thi Thanh - Deputy Director of Vietravel Nghe An branch said that the tourism sector always lacks a workforce with deep expertise and good foreign language skills to expand the target audience and grasp customer needs.

At the question and answer session of the Provincial People's Council meeting held in early December 2023, Mr. Bui Van Hung - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that the tourism human resources in the province trained in the period 2021-2023 are more than 8,100 people. However, the training quality is still limited, of the total number trained, up to 70% of people were only trained for 3 months.

Promote training and self-training

There are many reasons for the shortage and weakness of human resources in the tourism industry, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, tourism establishments had to temporarily suspend operations, forcing the workforce to find other jobs to make a living.

By early 2022, when implementing the policy of opening up and restoring tourism activities, Nghe An tourism industry will lack about 12,000-15,000 workers.

Besides, according to Mr. Phan Dang Truong - Head of Training Department, Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce, most of the students of the school after graduating go to famous resorts in provinces and cities in the country to work and have no intention of returning to their hometown. The reason stems from the fact that tourism activities in Nghe An are not yet developed, income is not high and skills are not promoted.

On the other hand, tourism establishments reflect that the training of human resources in some schools is still inadequate, learning is not linked to practice, and the knowledge provided is not linked to reality. For example, at Lam Giang Hotel (Vinh City), after accepting new graduates, the establishment must invest funds to retrain them.

From the perspective of a travel agent, Mr. Nguyen Huynh Suong - Director of Indochina Tourism Company believes that it is necessary to develop and expand the vocational training network and train high-quality human resources locally to meet the development needs of the tourism industry.

Enterprises need to join hands with State management agencies to improve professional knowledge. Particularly for tour guides, it is necessary to organize periodic training courses to test professional skills, build criteria, and a basis for evaluating and classifying human resources.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of the Department of Tourism said: With the role of State management, the Department of Tourism has organized short-term training courses, helping to improve the quality of human resources in tourism businesses. Training courses on reception, room service for accommodation establishments and communication skills for tourist areas and spots have been opened and attracted a large number of workers to participate.

At the same time, strengthen coordination with tourism resource training schools in major provinces and cities to organize skills and professional competitions. Notably, the tour guide competition of tourist areas, destinations and training facilities takes place enthusiastically every year.

The Department of Tourism has directed accommodation establishments to self-train, educate, and improve the expertise and professionalism of their staff. Even the tourism management staff from the province to the district and commune levels also need to improve their qualifications, expertise, and professionalism to meet the development requirements of tourism activities. With the synchronous implementation of many solutions, it is hoped that in the coming time, the quality of human resources will be improved, the number of trained staff will increase, ensuring service quality.

MR. NGUYEN MANH CUONG - DIRECTOR OF TOURISM DEPARTMENT