WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Apr 14, 2019 / 13:10

Human resources, friendliness vital to Vietnam tourism: PM

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc questioned why Vietnam`s tourism remains underrated while the country has many cultural heritages, great landscapes, and friendly people.

Vietnam's tourism industry should focus on developing human resources, infrastructure and new strategies to become a key contributor to the economy, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was quoted by the government portal as saying.
 
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: VGP
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: VGP
The PM made the statement on Friday at the Vietnam Tourism Forum on Human Resources, part of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival with theme “Happy Summer 2019”, which takes place from April 11 to 14.
To help Vietnam become one of best destinations in the world, Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the tourism sector should beforehand raise local people's awareness and promote hospitality. Secondly, Vietnam needs to have better "hard" infrastructure for tourism, traffic connection as well as "soft" infrastructure such as culture and smart city.
The prime minister noted that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism needs to create a long-term development strategy. It should also work closely with other ministries, including the Ministry of Education and Training on a training strategy to ensure high-quality personnel for the industry.
Tourism is taught at  346 tourism training institutions at all levels in Vietnam, 63 of which are located in Ho Chi Minh City including 24 universities, 20 colleges, and 19 vocational schools. Vietnam needs to add 40,000 workers to the industry industry annually.
PM Phuc cited the World Economic Forum as saying that Vietnam ranks 67th globally in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in 2017. He questioned why the country's ranking is still low and should be more attractive to foreign visitors as it has many cultural heritages, great landscapes, and friendly people.
PM Phuc enlarged the content of the human factor in the tourism industry. Human resources in tourism embrace not only travel companies, but also imply the people and communities where tourism products are provided. In the tourism industry, the efficiency of human resources is connected closely with the people’s value demonstrated in the quality of services that they provide.
In addition, the PM stressed it is capable and friendly personnel that is a decisive factor to make tourists satisfied when they visit the destinations rather than lavish infrastructure.
“I believe that with a population of 100 million, the country’s human resources do not lack quantity or qualifications and it is important to develop their hidden capacity and provide an environment for development. Each enterprise should have policies that fit their employees,” PM Phuc added.