NguyenHuu Tho, deputy chairman of the association, said on Dec. 29 one of theassociation's tasks in the 2012-16 period would be to improve trainingof the industry's employees.
The Government has invested time and money in developing the tourism industry.
Inthe next five years, the association plans to ask relevant authoritiesto establish a Tourism Knowledge Fostering School to train staff andmanagers in the tourism sector.
The association will also collaboratewith universities and colleges to open short-term courses, and organisetraining classes for staff in local tourism associations.
The VITA'sViet Nam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA), in collaboration with theEuropean Excellence in Management Education (CFVG) have launched the MBATourism Programme, which is especially targeted at managers working inthe tourism industry. It is also open to anyone who is interested in acareer in tourism.
The programme aims to improve the qualificationsof managers of tourism enterprises, which are mostly small- andmedium-sized, so they can compete better in the world market.
"Theassociation will sign cooperation agreements with tourism associationsin ASEAN countries to seek support in training and develop humanresources for the tourism sector," Tho said.
In the 2012-16 period,VITA will strengthen tourism promotion. Every year, it will supportmembers to take part in 10 to 15 international events or exhibitions topromote Vietnamese tourism products.
It aims to raise the status of Vietnamese tourism in the international market.
Theassociation will continue to build a close relationship with airlinessuch as Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Airlines to promote Vietnamesetourism and popular tourism products in key markets.
The associationwill ask the Government and relevant ministries to develop particulartourism products in localities, especially in Hanoi and HCM City.
VITAtargets ensuring that 80 percent of localities will set up localtourism associations by the end of 2016, in collaboration with VITA tosupport tourism businesses.
Currently, 31 cities and provinces haveset up tourism associations with more than 1,000 members includingenterprises, tour operators, travel agents and transport services.
Eightypercent of tourism company leaders would be professionally trained and100 percent of tourism businesses would have their own websites in the2012-16 period.
The association will continue to actively contributeopinions on tourism-related policies to help solve difficulties forbusinesses.
Hoang Tuan Anh, minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism,said there was a need to build a closer link between businesses, tourismassociations and State management agencies to develop the country'stourism sector.
Despite hard economic times, the country welcomedmore than 6 million international visitors and served 30 milliondomestic tourists, earning 130 trillion VND (6.25 billion USD) fromtourism in 2011, an increase of 30 percent year-on-year./.