Improving the quality of tourism activities in Thanh Hoa

In recent times, Thanh Hoa province has implemented many solutions to develop and improve the quality of tourism activities, build the brand and image of Thanh tourism - the colors of four seasons.

Improving the quality of tourism human resources

In Thanh Hoa province, there are currently 5 specialized facilities and a number of vocational training facilities that provide tourism training. Training facilities focus on improving the qualifications of specialized lecturers, attracting lecturers with experience in training and teaching tourism, and supplementing highly qualified lecturers for tourism departments, contributing to improving and enhancing the quality of training.

According to the report, from 2021 to now, educational and training institutions in the province have recruited 1,420 university and college students majoring in tourism, including 130 students studying while working; 4,700 students studying tourism intermediate level; 3,900 students studying primary level and 5,200 students receiving regular tourism training for less than 3 months. Training institutions also cooperate with tourism businesses to organize tourism training and retraining for workers.

To concretize the tourism development program, Thanh Hoa province has allocated more than 213 billion VND to carry out tasks of product development, promotion, environmental improvement, and tourism human resource development.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Provincial Tourism Association, and the District People's Committees coordinated to organize 24 training courses on community tourism knowledge and skills for human resources at key tourist areas and destinations; 12 intensive training courses for hotel and travel agency leaders, and training courses on tour guides, interpreters, receptionists, room attendants, bar staff, and kitchen staff.

In 2024 alone, the specialized agency will coordinate with localities to organize 3 professional training courses for adventure tour guides in mountainous districts: Ba Thuoc, Quan Hoa, Thuong Xuan. Many tourism businesses in the province will train and self-train to improve the qualifications and skills of workers, and some localities will proactively contact schools to organize training, foster and improve communication skills, food processing, cooking, etc. for people participating in business, serving, organizing and providing tourism services and activities.

As of September 2024, Thanh Hoa has 57,800 workers in the tourism industry, of which 6,050 have university degrees or higher, 19,700 have college and intermediate degrees. The whole province has 47,950 workers participating in tourism activities who have been trained and educated, accounting for more than 82.9% of the total tourism workforce.

Traditional costumes of the Dao and Muong people in the upper region of Thanh Hoa.

Every year, departments, branches, unions, and socio-political organizations have organized training and propaganda on civilized behavior in tourism; deployed the construction of pilot models on "Residential areas and households with civilized behavior in tourism", associated with the campaign "All people unite to build new rural areas and civilized urban areas"... contributing to raising awareness and knowledge about tourism in society.

However, Thanh Hoa lacks high-quality tourism human resources, especially professional tour guides who can win over tourists with their extensive knowledge and attractive, engaging and persuasive presentation skills. Discussing the completion and promulgation of tourism development policies, Thanh Hoa province leaders suggested adding policies to support training, improving qualifications and skills, and developing a core, professional tour guide force to meet the requirements of improving the quality of tourism activities.

Connect, develop products, manage tourism activities

Along with the construction, approval and management of planning for tourism development, Thanh Hoa province has allocated budget for investment and development of connecting transport networks, infrastructure of tourist cities, tourist areas and destinations. From 2021 to present, 39 tourism infrastructure investment projects have been implemented, of which 16 projects have been completed. In addition, the province has mobilized resources from public investment programs, focusing on implementing 70 investment projects to develop connecting transport and strengthen tourism infrastructure, of which 47 projects have been completed and 23 projects are being implemented.

A number of large-scale projects have been put into operation, effectively connecting tourist areas in the province, creating favorable conditions for tourists to visit tourist areas, destinations, and scenic spots. At the same time, Thanh Hoa has made great efforts to improve the investment and business environment, attract investment, coordinate to remove arising obstacles, and urge investors to ensure the progress of large-scale tourism projects, which have an impact on promoting rapid growth along with improving the quality of tourism.

A tourist service facility in Thanh Lam commune, Ba Thuoc district, Thanh Hoa province.

This phase has added an eco-tourism area, Pu Luong community in Ba Thuoc district, attracting international and domestic tourists. Some large-scale investment projects, exploiting the advantages of sea tourism such as: Flamingo Linh Truong in Hoang Hoa district, Sea Square - festival landscape axis, Water Park, Memorial area for compatriots, cadres, soldiers, and students from the South who gathered in the North in Sam Son city have been put into operation, exploited, creating more tourism products and services to attract tourists.

This year, Sam Son city continues to host and organize many festival, cultural and sports events to attract tourists all year round. Notably, the city successfully organized the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Sam Son urban area, opened the Sea Tourism Festival; celebrated the 70th anniversary of welcoming compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students from the South to the North (1954-2024) and inaugurated the Memorial Area, creating more destinations to attract tourists.

In 2024, Sam Son city is estimated to welcome 8.68 million visitors, an increase of 11.4% over the same period in 2023, exceeding the plan by 4.2%; tourism revenue is estimated at more than 17 trillion VND, an increase of 19.7% over the same period in 2023, exceeding the plan by 8.2%.

Scene of the television bridge celebrating 70 years of welcoming southern compatriots to the North in Thanh Hoa.

Promoting the formation and development of high-quality sea resort tourism products with widespread impact, Thanh Hoa continues to improve the quality of spiritual cultural tourism products, community eco-tourism and many other tourism products with high value, specificity, uniqueness, and novelty, contributing to prolonging the length of stay, increasing the experience and spending capacity of visitors, creating a long-term competitive brand.

Currently, sea tourism products have built a prominent brand in the northern and North Central regions, becoming products with scale, competitiveness, and the ability to attract customers, especially golf tourism in the 5-star luxury beach resort FLC Sam Son, Sunworld water park and Flamingo Linh Truong service complex, contributing to attracting and increasing the number of high-spending tourists.

Street festival on opening day, putting Flamingo Linh Truong area into operation.

Thanh Hoa province always pays attention to and directs relevant provincial agencies and units and localities to strengthen management, ensure security, safety, quality of tourism services, maintain the attractive and friendly image of Thanh Hoa tourism. Authorities strengthen inspection and examination, ensure conditions for welcoming and serving tourists at coastal tourist areas, manage services, tighten order and discipline.

At the same time, localities proactively and actively reviewed, supplemented, issued and organized the implementation of many plans for tourism service management, ensuring security, social safety, food safety and environmental sanitation; established order teams, organized inspections and controls during peak tourist seasons, large-scale events, and large gatherings to prevent, detect and promptly handle theft, fraud, forcing customers, forcing prices and regulating and diverting traffic to avoid congestion and ensure traffic safety. This has contributed significantly to building the brand and creating trust among tourists.

Many ages choose products made from bamboo and reed in Thanh Hoa.

This year, the sector has advised, organized, and coordinated the organization of 145 cultural, sports, and tourism events, especially large-scale festivals with unique and impressive art programs. Many mountain climbing and camping activities, activities to learn and explore nature and diverse ecosystems in conservation areas and national parks; folk games, ethnic costume performances, festivals in ethnic minority areas; cultural and sports events are continuously organized, with an average of more than 2.5 days for an event. Typical are the Folk Arts Festival - Highland Market; adventure tours and Marathon sports tournaments, trade fairs and tourism in the West, which are increasingly welcomed and highly appreciated by domestic and international tourists.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa Vuong Thi Hai Yen emphasized: Along with the series of events, many new marine tourism products and services have been put into operation, eco-tourism and community tourism in the western part of Thanh Hoa have contributed significantly to improving the seasonal factor, and are products that are oriented to develop into typical tourism products of Thanh Hoa in the coming time.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/nang-cao-chat-luong-hoat-dong-du-lich-o-thanh-hoa-post845948.html