Lesson 1: Lacking in quantity, weak in quality
According to statistics from the Nghe An Department of Tourism, there are currently 21 tourism human resource training facilities in the province, including universities, colleges, vocational schools and district-level vocational training centers. However, the training facilities have not yet met the recruitment needs of tourism businesses.
Cong Kien • September 21, 2024
According to statistics from the Nghe An Department of Tourism, there are currently 21 tourism human resource training facilities in the province, including universities, colleges, vocational schools and district-level vocational training centers. However, the training facilities have not yet met the recruitment needs of tourism businesses.
Having studied Tourism at Vinh University, after graduating, Ms. Le Thi Mai tried her hand at many different work environments to gain experience. Ms. Mai said: “Studying Tourism, I was provided with basic knowledge and equipped with necessary skills. Therefore, when I came to work at companies, I quickly caught up and soon met the job requirements.”
After accumulating experience for herself, Ms. Le Thi Mai decided to establish her own business. She is currently the Director of TM International Travel Company, headquartered in Vinh city. According to her, the knowledge and skills learned and trained at university, the experience gained during her work, and her passion for the profession have helped her stand firm over the years, helping the company operate effectively.
Ms. Phan Thi Hue, from Do Luong district, graduated with a degree in Hotel Management from Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce nearly a year ago, and is currently an employee at a hotel in Cua Lo town. According to Ms. Hue, during her apprenticeship, she was equipped with basic knowledge and applied it in practice when interning at a business. After graduating, she did not have to wait, was recruited by the business and went to work immediately.
According to statistics of the Department of Tourism, currently, in the whole province there are 21training facilitiesThe human resources of the tourism industry, however, only meet 50% of the human resources for the tourism industry. The reason is that in recent years, the recruitment of training institutions has encountered many difficulties due to the decrease in the number of candidates registering for the exam. In this situation, some schools have implemented a policy of reducing tuition fees to attract students and trainees.
Among the tourism human resource training facilities of the province, Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce stands out with nearly 1,000 students trained each year at college and intermediate levels; training majors include: Tour guide, Restaurant management, Hotel management, Reception management, Travel management, Culinary arts. Of which, Culinary arts major has the largest number of students.
Teacher Phan Dang Truong - Deputy Head of Training Department, Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce said: After graduation, about 80% of students are introduced to jobs at tourism businesses, mainly in Nghe An and some other provinces and cities such as Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City... The remaining students contact jobs themselves or go abroad (Germany, France, Korea...) under the program.labor export.
Along with Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce, the Faculty of Tourism and Social Work of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of Vinh University is also an address chosen by many students. Currently, this faculty has nearly 200 students studying Tourism, of which about 70% are majoring in Hotel and 30% are majoring in Travel.
With the CDIO approach training program, not only providing knowledge but also focusing on training professional skills, the training quality has been improved, meeting both the output standards of tourism bachelors and the requirements of recruiting agencies, units and businesses.
Dr. Nguyen Van Trung - Head of Faculty of Tourism and Social Work
Apart from the Faculty of Tourism and Social Work - Vinh University and Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce, which have met the enrollment targets and ensured training quality, most of the other facilities are operating at a standstill due to lack of students, especially district-level vocational training centers. For example, the Anh Son District Vocational Training Center - Continuing Education has only opened one course in Food Processing in the past 10 years with more than 10 students. Explaining this situation, teacher Bui Duc Tuan - Director of the Center said that the unit lacks facilities and teachers, so it has to cooperate with Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce for training. When the partner does not have the need to cooperate, the unit also stops training.
Similarly, in recent years, the Vocational Education - Continuing Education Center of Tuong Duong district has not been able to open training courses in Tourism majors because no one has registered to study.
With the Center for Vocational Education - Continuing Education of Dien Chau district, things have improved a bit, when each year enrolling a basic course in cooking with the participation of about 50 students. The students both study the cultural program (general education) and receive vocational training.
However, teacher Vo Thu Hang - Director of the Center said that most of the students who finished their studies went to work abroad or found other jobs, the number of students who followed the trained profession was very small. This was partly due to the inappropriate training program, leading to not meeting the requirements of businesses, forcing students to change their career direction.
Up to now, the whole province has more than 900 accommodation establishments, with more than 22,000 rooms, including 4 5-star hotels, 10 4-star hotels, 40 1-3 star hotels; nearly 70 travel agencies and branches, 29 tourist attractions recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as provincial-level tourist attractions. Along with that is a system of restaurants, entertainment and recreation concentrated in coastal districts, towns, and Vinh city.
Looking at these statistics, we can see that the demand for human resources in the tourism industry is very large. However, according to incomplete statistics, currently, about 50% of tourism businesses are lacking human resources, especially high-quality human resources.
Established and operating for many years, Dong Duong Travel Company has a fairly stable number of customers and operates effectively in Vinh city. However, the company's operations are facing certain difficulties, when facing the shortage of high-quality human resources. Currently, the company is lacking about 40% of its labor force, especially the team of tour guides.
According to Mr. Nguyen Huynh Suong - Director of Dong Duong Travel Company, recruiting a team of tour guides, especially those with high professional qualifications, is very difficult and problematic, affecting business and customer service quality.
The biggest shortage of human resources is in accommodation establishments, because the number of hotels is increasing rapidly, while the number of trained workers cannot meet the demand. Even Muong Thanh Song Lam, a 5-star hotel in Vinh city, is often short of about 20% of its workers. Hotel director Nguyen Duc said: "After the Covid-19 pandemic, the human resources of Muong Thanh Song Lam Hotel are lacking due to many workers quitting their jobs, changing jobs and recently exporting labor and working abroad. Currently, the shortage of high-quality labor continues, significantly affecting the quality of service."
According to Mr. Le Duc Hai - Director of Giao Te Hotel Joint Stock Company (Vinh city), currently, the unit is lacking about 40% of the demand in all departments such as reception, room, desk, kitchen. The company regularly recruits workers who are students and graduates from specialized training institutions in Tourism. However, the current training program is still inadequate, learning is not linked to practice, and the knowledge provided is not linked to reality.
After receiving and using, the unit must invest funds to organize retraining by inviting lecturers from reputable training institutions to teach, train and share experiences, and supplement expertise and skills.
Mr. Le Duc Hai - Director of Giao Te Hotel Joint Stock Company
Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of Nghe An Department of Tourism said: The quality of human resources after graduation has not met the requirements of businesses, graduates lack practical knowledge, soft skills, specialized professional expertise, foreign language proficiency is not up to standard, lack of understanding of cultural - social knowledge, history, geography to work in a comprehensive economic sector with interdisciplinary, inter-regional and highly international integration. Tourism human resources today not only have to be fluent in foreign languages but also have togood use of technology, the skills to build products to high quality standards.
Besides, the staff working in tourism in most localities have not been properly trained in expertise and profession, leading to difficulties in their work.
Thus, the human resources of the tourism industry in Nghe An are still lacking in quantity and weak in quality. This shortage occurs in all areas, from tourist areas and destinations to accommodation establishments, restaurants and state management agencies in localities.
(To be continued)
