Take a walk down the streets of Vietnam these days and you'll see foreign tourists dragging suitcases everywhere, amid the endless chorus of honking taxis and motorbikes. Local media report that in the first eight months of the year, Vietnam welcomed nearly 16 million foreign visitors—a jump of more than 10 percent compared to the same period last year.
The sudden surge in business has caught restaurants, hotels, and travel agencies completely off guard. From room attendants and line cooks to front desk clerks and maintenance technicians, businesses are scrambling to fill positions across the board.
The crunch is especially severe in Ho Chi Minh City. A local survey revealed that nearly 90 percent of tourism operators are currently recruiting, yet over 70 percent of business owners complain that finding staff is an uphill battle. Beyond the shortage of frontline service workers, tour guides fluent in Russian, Hindi, or less common European languages are in hot demand. The situation is even tougher in more remote scenic spots, where training staff who possess both language skills and local cultural knowledge simply cannot keep pace with the wave of incoming tourists.
To keep workers from walking out the door, local businesses are pulling out all the stops. Nearly 80 percent of operators have raised salaries or boosted benefits over the past year. Even so, employers admit that compared to other sectors, tourism means long hours, modest pay, and limited room for promotion, leading many young recruits to change careers after just a few months.
With Vietnam aiming to draw 40 to 50 million foreign tourists by 2030, local media emphasize that businesses and educational institutions need to forge much tighter links. Textbook training alone will no longer cut it—young people need to see a viable career path if the country wants to keep this roaring trade on a solid footing.
