The tour guide dilemma

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 4 months of 2024, Vietnam's tourism industry welcomed more than 6.19 million international visitors, an increase of 68.3% over the same period last year. During the 5 days of the April 30 holiday alone, the tourism industry served about 8 million visitors, of which about 3.6 million stayed overnight. Tourism has recovered strongly, but human resources are severely lacking.

Many but still lacking

In Ho Chi Minh City, statistics from the Department of Tourism show that the total number of licensed tour guides is more than 8,031 people, including 4,856 international tour guides, 3,099 domestic tour guides, and 76 on-site tour guides.

Although there are many tour guides, businesses say they are still lacking. Mr. Pham Quy Huy, Director of Kiwi Travel Company, said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, a wave of personnel movement, especially a team of skilled, experienced and qualified tour guides, occurred and the industry is still lacking. It takes about 2 years to train a quality tour guide, while if you use collaborators who are outside tour guides, the cost to pay is much higher than that of official staff.

"My company currently has more than a dozen students from various schools coming to do internships, but mainly in the fields of administration, business, hotel and restaurant management, etc. There are almost no interns majoring in tour guides. Meanwhile, the role of tour guides is very important to the success of the tour. Because if it is a domestic tour, the tour guide will have to meet the needs of the guests on the road, providing information about the itinerary and destination. For international guests, the tour guide will be the "ambassador" introducing the image of the country and people of Vietnam. Whether or not the guests return depends largely on the tour guide team on the tour route," commented Mr. Pham Quy Huy.

Tour guides in the tourism industry are in great shortage, especially in fast-growing markets such as China and India. Mr. Phan Xuan Anh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Travel Company, said that there is a serious shortage of German and Spanish tour guides, although these are traditional and stable markets in the tourism industry. If there are any, the cost for tour guides in these markets is also very high. For example, the cost for a good quality English tour guide is about 1 million VND/day on average, while a German tour guide requires 1.5 million VND, and some tours even cost up to 2.5 million VND/day.

"This level is too high, travel businesses will find it difficult to pay because the industry's profits are not high. Not to mention, due to the nature of tourism, people who speak German, Spanish, French, etc. are not only required to be fluent but also have experience in guiding and serving international guests. This is not an easy problem when this human resource is increasingly lacking and training is not simple. Meanwhile, Spanish tourists have the characteristic of often traveling "off-season" during the peak of international visitors (from May to July) which will compensate for the number of visitors to the destinations" - Mr. Phan Xuan Anh analyzed.

Tour guide explains to tourists in Dien Bien province. Photo: LAM GIANG

Invest in training and retaining tour guides

Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, said that focusing on training new human resources, especially tour guides, is an important solution for the tourism industry. At the recent congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Tour Guide Association (under the City Tourism Association) for the 3rd term (2024-2026), one of the important tasks of the new executive committee is to find solutions to improve the quality of tour guides in the area.

Mr. Nguyen Bao Toan - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tour Guide Association, Director of the Vietnam Tour Guide Operation Center (under Vietravel Tourism Company) - said that Indian tourists to Vietnam have been increasing rapidly in recent times. According to the General Department of Tourism, in the first 4 months of this year, more than 158,000 Indian tourists came to Vietnam, an increase of 141% over the same period last year.

"The tour guides welcoming Indian guests will speak English. The characteristics of this type of guest are often organizing events, organizing weddings in coastal areas of Vietnam... so it is also necessary for the tour guide team to understand their needs. In the coming time, the Ho Chi Minh City Tour Guide Association will strengthen training and information on tourism development trends and the characteristics of the guest markets to contribute to improving the quality of this human resource team" - Mr. Bao Toan emphasized.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said it has implemented a plan to organize knowledge update courses for tour guides in 2024, of which the first phase has about 300 tour guides participating.

The Department of Tourism also coordinated with the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to organize the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Job Fair in 2024 with more than 1,200 workers participating, including students from tourism training institutions in the area. This is not only an opportunity for freelance workers to find jobs, but also a place for tourism service businesses and tourism training institutions to connect, support and improve the quality of human resources.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bai-toan-nan-giai-ve-huong-dan-vien-du-lich-196240509210352895.htm