Sustainable tourism can play a positive role in socio-economic and environmental development. In the post-pandemic era, is Vietnam ready for the future and emerging as one of the top destinations in the world?
Factors hindering the development of sustainable tourism
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), sustainable tourism is the development of tourism activities to meet the current needs of tourists and indigenous peoples while conserving and enhancing resources for the development of tourism activities in the future .
Globally, however, tourism is one of the hardest hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, RMIT University Vietnam convened the 2022 Tourism and Hospitality Roundtable to make the sector more resilient and ensure it is on track for the 2030 global agenda for sustainable development.
Regarding the shortcomings, Mr. Jason Choi, Cathay Pacific Airways Country Manager Vietnam and Cambodia said Vietnam’s airports were overcrowded with crowds and many planes and routes were delayed, despite airlines trying to mitigate the situation.
“Vietnam’s aviation industry has tremendous room for growth, but more infrastructure investment is needed for airlines to expand at a pace that can meet the booming demand. Moreover, Vietnam is a country with many heritage and tourist attractions, but most of them are not widely promoted outside of Vietnam. I hope the government would invest more to reach their full potential,” said Mr. Choi.
Ms. Nguyen Thi My Trang, Director of Service Quality Control, Head of Customer Experience, Bamboo Airways shared that Vietnam’s tourism and hospitality industry is facing a shortage of quality labor.
“There are not even enough employees at the airports for the check-in service. Labor problems in airlines also affect pilots, flight attendants, ground services such as baggage services and many others. After social distancing, many airline employees who had a bad impact on their careers moved to other industries. We do not immediately get experienced employees back to work, it takes time to train new employees to replace them. Severe staff shortages affect the quality of aviation service in some respects and in some cases over time,” said Ms Trang.
In addition, the experts attending the roundtable also agreed that visa restrictions are also a factor hampering tourism growth. Currently, tourists have only 15 days to stay in Vietnam with their visa, while for a range of international travelers it can take quite some time and effort to get here.
The panel discussions were attended by many experts in the tourism sector
RMIT’s efforts in training high-quality human resources
The tourism industry in Vietnam requires sustainability as it has a major impact on the economy, politics and policies. In 2019, Vietnam was one of the ten countries with the fastest growth in tourism in the world, accounting for almost 10% of GDP. According to the National Tourism Development Strategy, the direct contribution will increase to 12-14% by 2025 and 15-17% in 2030.
2022 is also a milestone marking the 5-year establishment of the Tourism and Hospitality Management program at RMIT Vietnam, the organizer of this year’s Tourism and Hospitality roundtable.
Dr. Nuno F. Ribeiro, RMIT Vietnam, spoke at the event.
Dr. Nuno F. Ribeiro, Senior Lecturer and Research Cluster Lead, RMIT University Vietnam confirmed: “One of the main life goals of us and our students is to contribute to the sustainable development of tourism in Vietnam. We should not only focus on growth in terms of tourist numbers and income, but also on sustainable growth. We want tourism to have a positive impact in the country of Vietnam, and our students are trained to contribute to that goal.”
To be more specific, “our work-integrated learning approach with strong links to industry would enable students to be ready to enter the job market immediately after graduation. We do this in a multi-faceted way by bringing senior business leaders into our classrooms, taking our students to visit and interact with companies in their workplaces, and through intensive integrated internships where our students are immersed in supervised development. learning the job. This approach equips students with practical knowledge, which contributes to improving the quality of human resources in Vietnam’s tourism industry,” said Dr. Jackie Ong, Senior Program Manager, Tourism & Hospitality Management, RMIT University Vietnam.
The Management of tourism and hospitality program at RMIT equips students with theoretical knowledge and practical application, as well as a solid foundation in business management, finance, marketing, soft skills, and top-level English proficiency. With international standards and immersion in Vietnamese culture, it paves the way for students to pursue leadership positions in local and international organizations.
Through Mest Pham
