(TITC) - On 22nd July, in Ha Noi, Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Vice Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) had a meeting with Ms. Vicky Dunford, Associate Director, The Western Australian, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (WA TVET) on cooperation activities and projects to train Vietnamese tourism human resources.
Also attending were Mr. Trinh Cao Khai - Principal of Hanoi Tourism College (HTC), representatives of Austrade Vietnam, Australian Embassy in Vietnam.
Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)
Ms. Vicky Dunford said, the Western Australian, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (WA TVET) is a quality consortium of Western Australian institutions, brought together to combine shared capabilities and expertise to deliver unique training programmes on an international stage.
In May-June 2023, VNAT coordinated with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and WA TVET to organise the online Micro-Certificate Course in Sustainable Tourism. The course is part of the technical assistance project "Promoting Vietnam-Australia tourism cooperation" implemented by Austrade in 2023-2024. The course includes 06 lessons to improve students' understanding of the principles, applications of sustainable tourism, sustainable tourism management and promotion policies, measures to promote cooperation between relevant parties, and enhanced adaptation to climate change. The course has attracted 1,174 registered students from local tourism management departments, destinations, businesses, and tourism training establishments. Of these, 770 people completed the entire course and 404 people completed part of the programme.
VNAT’s Chairman Ha Van Sieu having a meeting with WA TVET’s Associate Director Vicky Dunford (Photo: TITC)
VNAT’s Chairman Ha Van Sieu gifting souvenir to WA TVET’s Associate Director Vicky Dunford (Photo: TITC)
This Sustainable Tourism Micro-Certificate project will have the main goal of introducing students to the principles and goals of sustainable tourism; provide insight into environmental protection practices; explore strategies to promote community engagement; understand the importance of preserving cultural heritage; analyse the impact of climate change on tourism and develop adaptation strategies; capacity building to develop the Sustainable Destinations Action Plan; equip participants with skills to market and promote sustainable tourism experiences. The form of implementation will be online in Vietnamese through a user-friendly platform, including engaging multimedia content, case studies, and quiz tests.
Leaders and delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)
Appreciate WA TVET's efforts, VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu indicated, WA TVET has grasped the needs of Vietnamese tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire tourism industry is focusing on recovery and sustainable development.
VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu said, Vietnam tourism is in a period of strong growth. In the first 6 months of 2024, the number of international visitors to Vietnam will reach over 8.8 million visitor arrivals, an increase of 58.4% over the same period in 2023. In particular, the Australian tourist market is in the top 10 source markets to Vietnam.
VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu suggested WA TVET to continue organising courses for Vietnamese tourism human resources in the coming time; Enhance the sharing of experiences in designing training content, building a training system and issuing digital certificates WA TVET considers cooperating with Vietnamese training institutions such as Hanoi Tourism College to develop vocational training programmes, connect and organise student exchange programmes, creating internship opportunities for students in Australia.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Trinh Cao Khai, Principal of Hanoi Tourism College, expressed his hope that there will be more opportunities to cooperate with WA TVET. Hanoi Tourism College is also planning to build a teacher training programme on teaching methods and hopefully WA TVET can assist in organising a course to provide an international certificate on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for HTC’s teachers. In addition, the fields of heritage conservation, tourism marketing, and sustainable tourism development are also topics of interest and top priority for training and guidance.
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