A seminar was held in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on
April 22 to discuss measures to develop human resource for the tourism
sector in the Mekong Delta region.
The event drew
the participation of 180 scientists, leaders of the Southwestern Region
Steering Committee and representatives from 13 localities and tourism
businesses in the region.
Participants at the
seminar agreed that human resources for the region’s tourism sector
remain weak in both quality and quantity. The 23,500 people employed by
the sector have yet to meet the requirements of serving Mekong Delta’s
20 million visitors every year.
According to the
Institute for Tourism Development Research under the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism, the region will need 208,000 competent
tourism workers by 2020.
Many attendees emphasised
the need to enhance on-the-spot training, while encouraging the
engagement of local residents in the tourism sector.
Besides, it is crucial to strengthen links between businesses and
tourism training centres to rapidly overcome the shortfall in qualified
personnel, they said.
Lying between Tien and Hau
Rivers, the 18 million-strong Mekong Delta sees abundant potential
for tourism development.
It is defined in the
Vietnam’s master plan on tourism development by 2020 as one of seven
tourism regions in the country, in connection with Greater Mekong
Subregion (GMS) tourism.
In 2012, the region
attracted more than 19.4 million visitors and earned about 4.3 trillion
VND from tourism-related activities, an increase of 23.2 percent from
the year before.
The famous travel website Lonely Planet listed the Mekong Delta as one of the best value destinations in the world last year.-VNA