The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) under Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has requested tourism authorities of provinces and cities to review the workforce in the industry with the aim of building a database of manpower.

Vietnam tourism industry plans to build workforce database. Photo: VNAT

In an official letter, the VNAT asks local authorities to update information on the tourism human resources on its website: http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/thongke; notify and urge tour operators and accommodation establishments under their jurisdiction to supply manpower information to the system. The statistical work would commence this October. 

Building database system of human resource in the tourism industry has been identified as a mandatory and urgent task to meet the requirements of tourism development and in line with the United Nations (UN) recommendations on tourism statistics.

The UN recommendations stressed the importance of tourism workforce statistics for regulators and experts to understand the special features, structure, and quality of tourism.  

The tourism workforce database would effectively assist the work of the sector regulators and policy makers. 

In the context of Industrial Revolution 4.0, a database of the tourism industry is expected to accelerate the digital transformation in the travel sector.

It is also one of the major directions of the Party and State concerning tourism development and digital transformation, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung told the forum “Digital Transformation to Develop Tourism in Vietnam” held on September 30.

In 2020, the VNAT plans to collect information on the tourism workforce, dividing it into groups that include tourism authorities, tourist accommodation establishments and travel service companies. The work has become even more urgent in the context of businesses and workers in the tourism industry being severely affected by Covid-19.

The collection and analysis of workforce database in the industry will help management agencies at all levels issue appropriate supportive solutions and policies.