ASEAN employment deal set to reinvigorate Vietnam travel

Viet Nam 's tourism sector is facing both great opportunities and challenges when a major ASEAN workforce agreement comes into effect in 2015, industry experts have predicted - Vietnam tour

Ahead of the planned launch of the ASEAN economic community in 2015, tourism is the sector leading the way to make the most of new opportunities, Cuong said, adding that although ASEAN nations had signed similar agreements in other fields such as construction and trade, Viet Nam has prioritised tourism because it would take less time and effort to build capacity in this sector than others.



Tourism and hotel in Viet Nam with a VTOS Certificate will be able to have this accredited by the ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals.

In order for a foreign tourism professional to be recognised by other ASEAN Member States and made eligible to work in a host country, they will need to possess a valid tourism competency certificate and a specific tourism job title, as specified in the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism has worked with the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme (ESRT) to develop the Vietnam tour Occupational Standards (VTOS).

Paul Penfold, vocational and education standards expert of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme said Vietnam travel had a lot of catching up to do, especially regarding service quality and technical skills.

He explained that training providers such as colleges and universities produce poorly qualified graduates for the industry because the curriculum is out of date and the teachers are out of touch with industry needs.

According to Ken Atkinson, General Director of Grant Thornton Vietnam and chairman of Vietnam Business Tourism Working Group, the country's tourism industry is not growing as strongly as in neighbouring countries, suggesting a need for more government intervention.

During the first seven months of the year, despite achieving a 5.9 milion visitor travel in Vietnam, the country's growth was still insignificant compared to that recorded in many Asian Pacific rivals.

Myanmar , Cambodia and Thailand all showed strong increases, equal to 30, 18 and 20 per cent respectively during the same period. Urgent action need to be taken to prevent bad practices which damages the industry, Vietnam travel Atkinson pointed out.