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COVER STORY

tourism industry in general and Vietnam’s digital technology. Companies in the industry
in particular suffered heavy losses last year. need to pay greater attention to the trend
International visitors to Vietnam stood at towards “staycations”. “When we change to
just 3.7 million, down 79.5 per cent against serving domestic customers, most booking
2019. Ninety-five per cent of international decisions for hotels or restaurants are made
travel agencies have ceased operations. The quickly, and this places a strain on the oper-
once-booming industry is currently in shock, ating divisions at companies,” said Mr. Nguyen
with its human resources in disarray. Manh Hung, Human Resources Manager at
Mr. Toan Nguyen, Director of Images Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel. “I think it is a
Travel, Asia Mekong DMC, told VET that major shift that employees must adapt to,
payments from businesses and the government because this type of customer changes sud-
are not enough for tourism employees to denly. It is also an opportunity for positive
make a living, so they had to find new jobs change, but it brings many challenges.”
during the crisis. Governments in some coun- Meanwhile, Mr. Atkinson said that the
tries, like Sri Lanka, Morocco, France, and ability of the industry to attract employees
Germany, have offered salaries for tourism that were previously let go is still to be seen,
workers but many still preferred to find new but the projected continued growth of the
jobs rather than rely on such subsidies. Work- industry means that the workforce will have
ers leaving this industry have put pressure to be steadily rebuilt, in line with returning
on those pursuing vacancies in other indus- demand, which is not really likely to be in
tries. He added that all of Images Travel’s the first three quarters of this year. He further
tour guides found other jobs to get through noted that one of the determining factors in
the tough times, including property sales, success as we head to the “new normal”,
foreign language teaching, online sales, and whatever that may be, will be service quality,
ride-hailing and food delivery, among others. and that will require continued training and
Many sent their families back to their home- commitment from local employees. The ques-
town to save on costs. Some experienced tour tion is also what changes in service delivery
guides with many years in the industry have will be driven by the pandemic, for example
relied on their savings, while relative new- the introduction of technology and what
comers have faced enormous challenges cov- impact this will have on the workforce, par-
ering basic daily expenses. ticularly at hotels, travel agencies, and travel
Mr. Bui The Duy, CEO of Lua Viet Tours operators. With growing FDI, employees with
Co., said the company has seen a 45 per cent foreign language skills will be in demand in
decline in employee numbers since Vietnam other sectors and it may affect their desire to
braced itself for the impact of Covid-19. Many return to their former jobs.
in its inbound tourism department have Mr. Toan from Images Travel is more
changed jobs due to mass tour cancelations. upbeat about the outlook for the tourism
“As our outbound tourism segment is now workforce in the time to come. “The slow
suspended, we have turned our focus to recovery in the industry will allow time for
domestic tourism,” he said. “The unprece- tourism workers to return to their previous
dented changes have prompted individuals employment, and I don’t think there will be a
to make adjustments themselves. Those work- surge in tourist arrivals that results in a lack
ing in the inbound travel segment need to of staff,” he said. “More students are graduating
adapt quickly to the new environment. Many from tourism universities and colleges, and
decided to find new employment to make they will also join the industry. My main con-
ends meet rather than staying in a turbulent cern is whether travel agencies, hotels, and
field like tourism.” restaurants have enough capital to recover
pHoto: VIet tUAN
Millions of tourism workers seeking new and reinvest in their facilities and operations.
easy reach of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City jobs will be a challenge for the tourism industry I have conducted some research by visiting
have been maintained by high occupancy post-pandemic. The slow pace of recovery hospitality establishments, many of which
on weekends, according to Mr. Atkinson. from a lack of skilled workers will then result are in disrepair as they have been closed for
“Many smaller city hotels have closed their in other skilled workers not being willing to the better part of a year.”
doors, as they relied heavily on international return to the field. A survey by tourism man- Moving forward, analysts said employers
and domestic tourists, while internation- agement company ATM Asia in December need to focus on building and retaining key
ally-branded city hotels, to a large extent, revealed that half of all tourism workers have employees via training programs and intro-
relied upon foreign business travelers, and already found new jobs. Vietnam seems certain ducing measures to enhance staff loyalty and
both segments have been devastated, leading to see a shortfall in its tourism workforce commitment, which may require changes in
to very low room occupancy,” he said. “This when the time to rebound comes. remuneration, training, and promotion poli-
led them to either lay off non-key staff, fur- cies. “Human resources have a huge effect
lough staff, or adopt a rotation policy. Many Looking to the future on the success of any business, so we must
staff, though, cannot survive on these Covid-19 has caused substantial damage always have the mentality of preparing strate-
arrangements and have been forced to look to the national tourism industry yet presents gies to be able to dominate the market and
for new jobs.” an opportunity for authorities and the business be able to stand firmly and keep our own
According to the Vietnam National Admin- community to accelerate changes to man- five-star brands,” said Ms. Do Thu Giang
istration of Tourism (VNAT), the global agement and development models by using from the Vietnam Hotel Association. %

FEBRUARY 2021 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | 19