Sep
12
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ASEAN nations promote tourism in city
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Vietnam and its ASEAN neighbors Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will introduce their tourism products to 200 international customers on September 13-15 at the International Travel Expo HCMC 2012.
Nguyen Van Tuan, general director of VNAT, answers questions on the travel
expo at a press conference held last Thursday in HCMC
According to organizers, Cambodia and Myanmar will introduce their heritage tourism products, while the products of Vietnam and Laos focus on sea tourism and ecotourism respectively. The four countries will bring to the expo their typical products and jointly promote to attract international tourists.
Nguyen Van Tuan, general director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said at a press conference in HCMC on Thursday that the tourism ministers of the four countries would meet at the expo to discuss tourism cooperation.
After that, mayors of cities in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, including Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Yangon, Bangkok and HCMC, will also meet in the city and promote tourism cooperation between the four countries and the Mekong Sub-region with specific activities to create competitiveness in the area.
“Through previous travel expos, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar have had several joint tourism promotion programs. But now we want to expand the scale and cooperate with countries of the Mekong Sub-region to create a greater competitiveness,” said Tuan.
The expo will take place at Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7 from Thursday until next Saturday.
According to organizers, the expo will feature 233 booths of travel firms and hotels from 19 nations and 26 local tourism promotion agencies. Around 200 customers from 33 markets will buy international tourism services and meet partners at the expo.
In addition to meetings for travel firms, the expo will include programs for tourists.
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Sep
12
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Russian travel agencies to flock to Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge – Some 19 groups with around 400 people from travel agencies in 18 Russian cities will come to Vietnam from this month until November to study Vietnam’s tourism.
Such visitors will not only tour popular destinations such as Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan provinces but also inspect Ninh Thuan Province.
Hoang Thi Phong Thu, chairwoman of Anh Duong Co., said that the firm in coordination with its foreign partner Pegas Touristik organized the program. Travel agencies who will visit Vietnam this time come from different cities across Russia.
In addition to inspecting tours, hotel and restaurant services in central coastal cities and in the Mekong Delta, some groups will attend the International Travel Expo HCMC 2012 which will open in HCMC on Thursday.
In summer, Anh Duong and Pegas Touristik organized a trip for around 300 people from Russian travel agencies to get acquainted with destinations in Vietnam in preparation for the coming winter travel season.
“Partners have given positive feedbacks after the trip. The number of Russian tourists coming to Vietnam in the winter will amount to around 100,000, doubling that of last year’s winter,” Thu told the Daily.
According to Thu, there will be around three charter flights daily from Russia to Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa Province from October 15 to April 30 next year, and Russian tourists will visit Nha Trang and then move to Phan Thiet and HCMC. They will also visit Ninh Thuan Province.
Currently, there is only one charter flight to Cam Ranh each day and six flights per week.
Together with Anh Duong Co., HCMC, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Danang and Quang Nam will attend the Leisure Moscow 2012 taking place in Russia this month.
With a recent strong growth in the Russian market, Vietnam has picked Russia as one of the three main markets to boost promotion activities to attract tourists.
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Sep
12
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Tourism sector needs skills standards
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The implementation of a universal and consistent set of occupational skills standards is crucial for the development of Viet Nam's tourism sector, according to international experts and industry insiders during a workshop held on Thursday.
As strong growth in the tourism sector has created higher demand for front-line staff and well-trained managers, such standards will act as a benchmark for measuring the performance of workers in the tourism industry and lay the foundation for effective training activities.
Viet Nam began compiling its first set of national occupational skills standards for the tourism sector in 2008 and is in the process of finalising it.
However, along with the country deeper international integration, the national standards being developed in Viet Nam have to meet industry requirements and come in line with international standards, said Vu Quoc Tri, deputy director of Viet Nam's National Tourism Administration's International Co-operation Department.
According to Tri, Viet Nam has joined other ASEAN members to adopt the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals in 2009, which means Viet Nam's national occupational skills standards must be compatible with the common competency standards of ASEAN tourism professionals.
He said such compatibility was a prerequisite to facilitate the free flow of tourism professionals among the ASEAN region, which is set to begin in 2015.
Though rather than starting from the scratch, the content of the national occupational skills standards will be developed by mapping and cultivating several standard systems currently in practice.
"There is no need to re-invent the wheel. We should use the best of what is available to meet the needs of all our stakeholders," said Paul Pentfold, an international tourism expert.
One of the main references cited was the Viet Nam Tourism Occupation Skills Standards (VTOS), which was developed under the European Union-funded project "Human Resources Development in Tourism" from 2004 to 2010.
The VTOS, which sets the minimum skill requirements for 13 occupations at entry level in both travel and hospitality, are still being taught at vocational colleges, according to representatives present at the workshop.
However, the national occupational skills standards would have to cover all industry levels, said Pham Thi Thanh Ngoc, vice rector of Hai Phong Vocational College in Tourism and Services.
Viet Nam Tourism Association deputy chairman Vu The Binh said that the biggest challenge was to engage tourism professionals, especially those working in travel, in training activities to meet standards.
"The fact is that managers in travel companies pay scant attention to training activities. Out of 1,000 companies nation-wide, only 30 to 40 managers are interested in providing training for their employees," he said.
Binh added that, as the Tourism Law has been under review, there was a need to amend certain provisions to re-organise the sector to ensure that it's mandatory for all tourism professionals to meet the occupational standards in order to operate at the designated level.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalid Social Affairs' Vocational Training Department, Viet Nam has issued national occupational skills standards for 122 occupations in different sectors, including industry, commerce, transport and construction.
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HCM City's Monkey Island offers kids a real experience
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12/09/2012 09:06:22
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Transgender enters top 16 of Vietnam Idol 2012
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12/09/2012 09:00:46
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Vietnam’s ao dai in top costumes at Miss Supranational
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12/09/2012 08:58:29
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Vietnamese contestant grasps attention of X Factor’s audience
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12/09/2012 08:56:38
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Viet Voice suspected of being pre-arranged
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12/09/2012 08:55:06
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Wonderful Vietnam moments on Russian news
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12/09/2012 08:45:50
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Vietnamese ao dai listed in top 16 best national dresses
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12/09/2012 08:44:34
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Vietnam hosts Indochina Literary Conference
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12/09/2012 08:42:50
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70 photos about children at war on display in Hanoi
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12/09/2012 08:30:08
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