The quality of tourist sector’s personnel should be improved as a prerequisite for the Vietnamese tourism to develop strongly, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Speaking at a national seminar on tourism personnel training held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 7, the Deputy PM said that the quality of personnel is an urgent matter for the sector.

The Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have joined hands to organise the seminar with the aim of expanding tourism personnel training in line with demand. The event drew the participations of 72 universities, colleges and schools, the tourism services of 20 provinces and cities and 55 travel businesses and hotels. A remarkable number of contracts on cooperation in personnel training were signed.

The country now has 30 vocational centres and schools and 38 universities and colleges that offer training courses in tourism, of them 19 training establishments have become members of the Network of Asia-Pacific Education and Training Institutions in Tourism (APETIT) and six join the ASEAN network of education and training institutions in tourism.

The tourism sector is expected to generate jobs for 1.4 million workers, including 350,000 direct workers by 2010.

(Source: VNA)