The ASEAN Community, scheduled to establish in 2015, is expected to greatly benefit tourism sector as the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) among ASEAN members will take effect in all member countries.

Trang An tourism complex in Ninh Binh Province

The MRA-TP will serve as the foundation to lift tourism cooperation among ASEAN countries.

Currently, ASEAN has built common standards for six tourism areas, including reception, restaurant service and tour operation, with a total 32 work titles, except for tour guide.

Experts held that Viet Nam can apply the standards to save cost in building its own. Vietnamese tourism companies can refer to the standards to improve their service quality and competitiveness. Furthermore, they can recruit qualified workers from other ASEAN countries.

On the part of domestic tourism workers, they have the chance to find better jobs and can easily move to other ASEAN countries.

According to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), around 1.8 million employees are working in Viet Nam’s tourism sector, a surge from only 12,000 in 1990. Each year, the sector needs nearly 40,000 new workers, but domestic training establishments graduate only 15,000, resulting in a serious shortage of qualified staff.

According to statistics from VNAT, ASEAN countries welcomed 97.2 million foreign visitors in 2014, up 3% over the previous year, including 28.5 million who travelled inside the bloc.