According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the tourism industry currently contributes 8.4 per cent of GDP, and aims to contribute up to 10 per cent by 2025, generating income for six million people. But to reach the target, it needs nearly 40,000 additional employees each year. There are currently 1.3 million employees working in the tourism and hospitality sector nationwide, with only 42 per cent of them trained in this field.

The Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the tourism sector should provide more accurate job forecasts and develop a long-term plan for tourism and hospitality training at schools and centres. The Directorate plans to establish a skills council composed of leading experts from State agencies, schools and enterprises to give advice to the Government and enterprises on workforce development and needed skills. Under the assistance of the Australian Government, Việt Nam will adapt a similar council model used in Australia.

Partnerships in training between local and foreign institutions, and cooperation between institutions and businesses to provide internships for students are also emphasised. Beside English, courses in Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, French and some other languages have also been offered at tourism-specialised institutions to make sure students can work in the global marketplace. RMIT University in Vietnam, offering the Tourism and Hospitality management programme, has established strong partnerships with a number of local and overseas industry partners, such as the InterContinental Hotel Group, Sheraton Hotel, JW Marriott Hotel, and Buffalo Tours Vietnam. It also incorporates industry partners’ best practices into the school curriculum and invites industry leaders to the classroom to give lectures.

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Comments from Lien Ta, Senior Education Services Manager
HESA statistics showed that the number of Vietnamese students enrolled in tourism and hospitality courses in the UK in 2017-18 was 150, an increase of 200% against five years ago. For the past three years, tourism and hospitality have been among most popular subjects that students choose to study overseas, according to our British Council annual survey at Study UK Fairs. Beside the human resource market needs, the outdated training curriculum offered by local institutions is also another reason for this momentum. Some local universities, especially some private ones in the South, have started partnering with foreign institutions in different TNE activities with an aim to make sure their students are trained to meet international standards in this field. Some said the main challenges in implementing TNE activities in this subject area are low English level of students and a shortage of lecturers who can meet the requirement of foreign partners.

It may be also worth noticing that Cultural Tourism has been identified as one among 13 sub-sectors which are of central importance for the cultural industries in Vietnam, and will need to be developed further according to the Vietnam National Strategy for the Development of Cultural Industries to 2020 with vision to 2030.