Experienced tour guides are being sought after by travel agencies (photo at Viet Tourism and Communication JSC). Photo: U.P
“Desperately” hiring workers
During the peak period for serving guests on the occasion of April 30 and May 1 holidays, Viet Tourism and Communication JSC is also urgently arranging and scheduling personnel for peak summer tourist routes. From the beginning of the year until now, the number of visitors in all markets has increased by nearly 30% compared to the same period in 2023. In addition to the strong domestic tourism market, Viet Tourism has innovated many traditional programs according to the criteria closest to new trends… for family and organization groups.
However, the headache for this travel agency is the lack of up to 20% of human resources in many departments. Ms. Le Giao, in charge of recruitment at Viet Tourism, said that the tourism industry is currently very short of experienced staff. The reason is that in the past, they have moved to other fields and have stabilized. We have had preferential policies and regimes to encourage them to return, but it is also quite difficult. At the beginning of April, Viet Tourism participated in the job fair to recruit workers, but so far, the number of applicants has not been enough. In order to have enough staff, Viet Tourism is currently stepping up internal training, for example, staff in business can do extra work in other departments.
With the need to recruit 20 workers in many different positions, Vietluxtour Travel JSC has still not been able to recruit enough. Ms. Doan Thi Yen Nhi, administrative and personnel specialist – Vietluxtour’s comprehensive business department, said that the company is ready to recruit fresh graduates, inexperienced people and train them to meet the job requirements. The important thing is that candidates only need to have passion and enthusiasm for the field. However, while the tourism peak season is getting hotter every day, this company still does not have enough human resources to meet the demand for expansion and development.
Human resources in the tourism industry are in dire shortage. Photo: Trong Thinh
According to Ms. To Anh Hong, Director of Hong Hoa Tourism Company, the company is in need of recruiting 15 staff with attractive salaries. However, experienced staff who can handle issues related to visas, tours, etc. are almost nowhere to be found. “ The tourism industry is recovering both domestically and internationally. We have been actively recruiting staff, especially high-quality staff from 2023 to the present, but it is still not enough. The company is very difficult” – Ms. Hong said.
The tourism accommodation business is also facing difficulties due to a shortage of skilled staff; while the recruitment of new staff has not yet met the demand. Ms. Nguyen Thi Giang, director of Huong Giang Hotel (District 5), lamented that there is a shortage of not only room service but also receptionists, cooks, and restaurant staff. With no one, Ms. Giang mobilized her family to help, but this is only a temporary solution. “When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, hotels had no guests, especially international guests. Therefore, the staff was cut. So when tourism recovers, the old staff doesn’t come back because they have found new jobs or changed careers” – Ms. Giang said.
Ms. Vo Thi My Van – Principal of Saigontourist College of Tourism and Hospitality believes that in order to solve the problem of shortage of skilled personnel, schools need to internationalize training in order to contribute to improving the quality of tourism personnel in the long term for Vietnam. The training school needs to connect closely with localities, solve the demand for human resources according to the linked region; the training school works directly with businesses in the tourism industry; regularly update the training program content…
Scarce and weak supply
Many travel companies said that recruitment is difficult because most of the current workers are new graduates, and when recruited, companies have to invest in retraining so that the new workers can meet the job requirements.
Ms. Tran Thi Viet Huong, Director of Human Resources at Vietravel Tourism and Transportation Marketing JSC, said that the gap between the demand for labor in the tourism industry of enterprises and the actual quality of training of schools is quite large. At Vietravel, 90% of newly graduated staff are still in need of additional training to adapt to the job. Many important skills required for tourism workers, such as communication skills, situation handling skills, and foreign language proficiency of many candidates, are still limited.
According to Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu – Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, with the strong growth of the tourism industry, the biggest difficulty for the industry is human resources. “In order to meet the demand for high-quality human resources for the industry, in the near future, there needs to be close cooperation between training institutions and tourism businesses such as organizing training courses, increasing practical subjects, and job skills…” – Mrs. Hieu proposed.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that in the first 3 months of 2024, Ho Chi Minh City welcomed more than 1 million international visitors, an increase of more than 33.5% compared to the same period in 2023, the number of domestic tourists to Ho Chi Minh City also increased sharply with over 5 million visitors, an increase of more than 10.2% compared to the same period in 2023. With the above positive signs, Ho Chi Minh City tourism expects to achieve the target of 6 million international visitors in 2024, 38 million domestic visitors with a total tourism revenue of 190,000 billion VND.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (Ministry of Culture – Sports and Tourism), the tourism industry needs about 485,000 workers in tourism accommodation establishments. It is forecasted that by 2025, the tourism accommodation sector will need about 800,000 workers. By 2030, it will be more than 1 million people, averaging 60,000 workers needed to be added per year. Citing a statistical source, Ms. Dang Tran Phuong Thao, Director of Human Resources at InterContinental Saigon Hotel, said that in the period 2022-2023, the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism sector lacked 40,000 qualified workers. Training schools only meet about 15,000 workers, so tourism human resources in the city are still very lacking. “Not only is there a shortage, but the quality of the human resources is also weak”, said Ms. Thao. Many tourism and travel companies said that the training programs are not yet close to reality, leading to the paradox that although the demand for human resources is high, it is very difficult to find suitable candidates.
