School of Hospitality and Tourism
In pursuance to the “Development directions for tourism to become a key economic sector in accordance with Resolution No. 08 / NQ-TW dated January 16, 2016 of the Politburo”, on March 7, 2017, the School of Hospitality and Tourism held a meeting with Dr. Nguyen Van Luu – Former Director of Personnel Department – Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; Deputy Director of Training Department – Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at conference hall 5, School of Hospitality and Tourism – Hue University.
The meeting was attended by Assoc. prof., dr. Bui Thi Tam – School Dean and Assoc. Prof. Tran Huu Tuan – Vice Dean, together with senior officials of various departments, divisons, lecturers, more than 100 students from different majors and representatives from travel companies.
At the meeting, Dr. Nguyen Van Luu shared value information about the current status of Vietnam tourism industry, the contribution of tourism industry in recent years and the development strategy for tourism of the Politburo. Data has shown that the tourism industry in Vietnam has made positive progress in terms of quality and quantity. The number of tourists, tourism services are constantly rising.
Specifically, the number of international visitors from 1990 to 2015 increased 32 times, from 250,000 in 1990 to 7.94 million in 2015. The number of domestic visitors reached 57 million compared to 32.5 million in 2012. In 2015, the total revenue from visitors reach 338,000 billion VND (an average increase of 29%/year in 2011-2015), contributing 6.6% of GDP. However, this development trend has not matched the current strengths and potentials of tourism that Vietnam possesses, including facilities, human resources and service quality compared to many countries in the region and over the world. In response to this issue, the Politburo has promulgated the Resolution No. 08/ND-TW dated January 16, 2017 on orienting the development of Vietnam’s tourism industry into a key economic sector that aims to promote Vietnam’s tourism industry to utilize its potential values.
The main goals are as follows: by 2020, tourism industry to become the key economic sector, play a leading role in the national economic – social development; have adequare professional facilities; tourism products are diverse, high quality and well branded with traditional cultural identity as well as competitive on regional markets; by 2030, Vietnam tourism industry becomes a key economic sector, contributing to the development of other industries. Viet Nam to be among countries that have the most developed tourism industries in Southeast Asia.
Specific objectives are as follows: By 2020, the tourism industry strives to: In terms of international and domestic visitors: a) Attract 17-20 million foreign tourists, achieve an average growth rate of 15-16.5%/year in 2016-2020; attract 75 million domestic visitors, achieve an average annual growth rate of 6% per year for 2016-2020; b) Increase the average length of stay and expenditure of international visitors and domestic visitors. Specific targets are as follows: a) To contribute 10% of GDP, total revenue from tourists accounted for USD 35 billion; annual growth of GDP form tourism industry and total revenue from visitors accounted for 16% per annum during 2016-2020; b) The value of export on-the-spot in tourism industry is USD 20 billion, achieving an average growth rate of 19% per annum from 2016-2020, create 4 million jobs, including 1.6 million direct jobs.
Specific targets for tourism enterprises are as follows: a) Total number of accommodation rooms: 600,000 rooms, of which 30-35% meet 3-5 star standards, the growth rate of 3-5-star accommodation establishments is higher than the general growth rate of accommodation facilities; b) International travel businesses: No development targets in number of entities, prioritising strong brand building to play a leading role in product and market orientation. Increasing the level of satisfaction of travel guests and the rate of international tourists returning to Vietnam. By 2030, Vietnam tourism industry to welcome 30 million foreign visitors, more than 120 million domestic visitors, contributes 12-13% of GDP, creates jobs for more than 5 million workers, of which about 1.7 million direct workers .
The valuable information shared by Dr. Nguyen Van Luu received a lot of interest and positive response from students and young lecturers of the School of Hospitality and Tourism, especially to the target of building and developing the brand for tourism activities in Thua Thien Hue Province, the Central – Highlands and for tourism industry in Vietnam.
During the closing remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thi Tam expressed the special thanks to Dr. Nguyen Van Luu and looked forward to welcoming Dr. Luu at the School of Hospitality and Tourism in various tourism related activities the near future.
