Tourism human resource development in context of the fourth industrial revolution

improving the quality of human resource training for tourism 
in training institutions; Improving technological infrastructure and information system of 
the tourism industry; and promoting international cooperation, strengthening public-private 
cooperation in tourism human resource development.
Keywords: Developing human, tourism, industry 4.0
* Faculty of Tourism - Hanoi Open University 
† Vietnam National University, Hanoi 
1. Introduction
Over the past years, with its remark-
able growth rate, tourism has shown a 
“spearhead” role in the country’s econo-
my. From 2015-2019, the number of tour-
ists has gradually increased each year - 
number of international visitors increased 
8.4 times, reaching over 18 million arriv-
als; Domestic tourists tripled, reaching 
85 million arrivals in 2019. Total revenue 
from tourists reached 32.8 billion USD in 
2019, an increase of 7.9 times compared 
to 2015, directly contributing 9.2% into 
GDP. In 2019, Vietnam ranked among the 
top 10 countries with the highest growth 
rate in tourism in the world. Impressive 
development results of the tourism in-
dustry on the one hand are good signals, 
but on the other hand are worrying signs, 
because methods of management, busi-
ness, consumption and labor in the tour-
ism sector will have to rapidly change in 
the context of the 4th industrial revolution 
(Industry 4.0) while Vietnam’s tourism 
human resources still have many limita-
tions both in terms of quantity and quality.
Tạp chí Khoa học - Trường Đại học Mở Hà Nội 72 (10/2020) 75-79
76 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
2. The development context and 
impacts of the industrial revolution on 
the tourism industry
Being identifi ed as a key econom-
ic sector, in recent years, tourism has re-
ceived great attention from the Party and 
the State. Tourism development has been 
identifi ed as the responsibility of the en-
tire political system, all levels, sectors 
and the whole society, and many policies 
have been enacted to facilitate tourism 
in general, tourism and human resourc-
es in particular. Resolution No. 08-NQ / 
TW dated January 16, 2017 of the Minis-
try of Finance on “Develop tourism into 
a key economic sector” also outlines the 
tasks and solutions for tourism develop-
ment, in which the emphasis is made on 
the need to develop human resources in 
terms of quantity and quality. The resolu-
tion clearly stated: “Promote the applica-
tion of advanced science and technology 
in training and fostering tourism human 
resource development” and “improve the 
quality of human resources in both state 
governance, corporate management and 
labor in tourism”. In addition, in the wide-
spread context of the Industry 4.0 tide, the 
Prime Minister has issued Directive No. 
16 / CT-TTg on strengthening the ability 
to access the Industry 4.0, and has directed 
the implementation of measures to make 
the most of the advantages, while mini-
mizing the negative eff ects of the Industry 
4.0 on Vietnam, in which the mission for 
the tourism industry was set: “Proactively 
review, build plans and key tasks of the 
industry to implement in accordance with 
the development trend of the 4th Industri-
al Revolution”.
As the convergence of a series of 
new technologies, based on the platform 
of connection and digital technology ap-
plied in all areas of life, Industry 4.0 has 
quickly had a profound impact on all areas 
of socio-economic life, tourism included. 
The internet of things can be applied in ac-
commodation and dining services such as: 
creating smart rooms - self-adjusting tem-
perature, lighting, automatic equipment 
in the room. ; predictive failure detection 
of the service equipment system; food in-
ventory tracking and management ... Ar-
tifi cial intelligence (AI) can be used as a 
virtual assistant to provide information, 
take care of tourists, resolve complaints, 
book automatically ... to increase the qual-
ity of the experience and save time for 
guests. Big data can be used in analyzing 
and selecting target markets, even helping 
businesses personalize each travel product 
and service to perfectly meet the needs of 
travelers. 
The new technologies of Industry 
4.0 applied in the tourism fi eld will create 
a lot of changes in the method of manage-
ment, business, consumption and associ-
ated with new requirements on qualifi ca-
tions, skills and qualities of the workforce 
in the tourism industry. Industry 4.0 will 
change the needs and approaches to tour-
ism of the tourist market; change some 
employment positions in the tourism in-
dustry; and alter some professional stan-
dards in the tourism industry.
Industry 4.0 changes the needs and 
approaches toward tourism of the tourist 
market:
Industry 4.0 dramatically changes 
management and business skills, reduces 
costs and increases tourism services qual-
ity, hence will be a strong driving force to 
stimulate tourism demand. The explosion 
of online technology makes it easy for 
travelers to gain direct access to travel 
products and services from anywhere on 
77Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
a global scale at lower costs. Travel hab-
its, travel behaviors, travel time ... can all 
change. At the same time, the increasing 
demand for personalization in tourism 
products will force the tourism industry 
and its workforce to actively change in 
response.
Industry 4.0 changes a number of 
job positions in the tourism industry:
The results of applying new tech-
nologies in the tourism industry have 
formed new tourism trends such as smart 
travel, virtual reality travel ... thereby cre-
ating new job positions such as marketing 
staff , online sales, consulting and online 
customer care, online dât analyzing and 
processing ... Meanwhile, some steps in 
the process of “manufacturing” tourism 
products and services will be gradually 
replaced by smart, automated robots such 
as picking up, ticket checking, luggage 
transportation, automatic payment assis-
tance, security protection ... so some pub-
lic may be lost. Namely work such as tick-
et conductors, tour guides, tourist advice 
and care, security staff ...
Industry 4.0 changes a number of 
profession standards in the tourism in-
dustry:
The increasingly popular appli-
cation of technology in work as well as 
the emergence of new career positions 
requires the workforce in the industry to 
have the qualifi cations and skills to use 
the technologies associated with each 
specifi c career position. Therefore, the 
standards of many professional positions 
will inevitably change, in accordance 
with the requirements of the new situa-
tion, with the actual application of tech-
nology in specifi c job positions. In this 
context, high-quality tourism human re-
sources will become a decisive factor in 
competition and ensure success in tour-
ism operation, management and business.
3. The situation of human resourc-
es in tourism
Tourism human resources can be 
understood as the entire direct or indirect 
workforce with suffi cient qualifi cations 
and conditions to work in the tourism 
sector. The growth of Vietnam’s tourism 
along with the new requirements posed 
by Industry 4.0 for the tourism industry 
requires the industry to have a human 
resource that ensures both quantity and 
quality. However, the reality shows that 
tourism human resources are lacking in 
quantity and poor in quality.
The shortage of tourism human re-
sources:
According to the Institute for Re-
search and Development of Tourism, with 
the same growth rate as the previous time, 
it is estimated that each year the tourism 
industry needs about 40,000 more work-
ers. In 2018, the whole country had 195 
training institutions in tourism, of which 
there were 80 universities but could only 
supply about 15,000 employees per year.
The demand for human resources operat-
ing in the tourism industry increased by an 
average of about 40% per year, of which, 
the demand for workers with university 
and college degrees accounts for 15%. 
Also according to the forecasts from this 
Institute, by 2025, Vietnam Tourism will 
need to add 620,000 workers, and by 2025 
2,090,000 more.
Quality of human resources for 
tourism:
According to the World Economic 
Forum (WEF)’s Travel and Tourism Com-
petitiveness Report, Vietnam’s human re-
source and labor market competitiveness 
78 Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
index was only 4.8 points, ranked 47th / 
140 countries, in the group above average 
in the world and only higher than Laos 
and Cambodia in the ASEAN region. The 
ICT readiness index was only 4.3 points, 
ranked 83/140, in the low average group 
(WEF, 2019). In the ASEAN region, these 
rankings are just ahead of Laos and Cam-
bodia. The ranking indicators refl ect quite 
accurately the current state of the quality 
of tourism human resources in Vietnam. 
According to statistics from the Institute 
of Tourism Research and Development, 
the proportion of workers trained with ex-
pertise in tourism accounts for only 42% 
of the total number of direct workers in 
the industry, 38% of workers are from 
other industries. and about 20% only re-
ceive on-the-job training without formal 
training. Of the workers trained in tour-
ism, only 10% have university and post-
graduate degrees, 50% have elementary 
to intermediate education and 40% only 
receive training through short classes. 
term. Regarding the foreign language lev-
el of tourism human resources, the whole 
industry has about 60% of tourism work-
ers know and can use foreign languages, 
but only 15% can use them fl uently. Re-
garding the level of technology, the whole 
industry has about 60% of the employees 
capable of using computers and equip-
ment for work, but mainly associated with 
simple jobs (Nguyen Van Dinh, 2019).
Thus, it can be seen that the tour-
ism human resource still lacks in quantity 
and still has many limitations in terms of 
quality. Therefore in the face of the rapid 
development of tourism and the impacts 
of the new technology wave around the 
world, it is very urgent to actively improve 
tourism human resources in both quantity 
and quality.
4. Some requirements for the de-
velopment of tourism human resources
First, raising awareness of Industry 
4.0 and new requirements on the capabili-
ty of the workforce in the tourism sector to 
actively study and innovate:
The workforce in the entire indus-
try must be properly aware of Industry 4.0 
and of the impacts of new technologies 
on the tourism industry and on each job 
position. As a result, each person working 
in the industry should be proactive and 
make eff orts in learning and innovating, 
improving knowledge, professional qual-
ifi cations, professional skills, and ability 
to use new technologies. Accordingly, re-
newing thinking and working methods to 
adapt to new requirements, and to ensure 
labor effi ciency.
Second, perfecting policies, adjust-
ing planning for human resource develop-
ment in tourism to the new situation:
The Government should review, 
adjust, and enact specifi c guidance and 
guidance documents on the tasks of de-
veloping tourism human resources in the 
context of Industry 4.0 such as policies on 
training, remuneration, and commenda-
tion ... to create a favorable legal corridor 
for human resource development. Tourism 
human resource development planning 
needs to be updated and adjusted on the 
forecast results and calculations on im-
pacts of Industry 4.0 on the tourist market, 
on competitors, on labor market (quantify 
new professions that appear, profession 
groups that are eliminated, competencies 
needed for each occupation group) to 
identify specifi c requirements for quantity 
and quality of human resources in the new 
context. 
79Nghiên cứu trao đổi ● Research-Exchange of opinion
Third, improving quality of human 
resources training for tourism in training 
institutions:
Apply a specifi c procedure in tour-
ism training, renovate the program con-
tent, training methods and methods asso-
ciated with the new requirements of the 
labor market. Enhance the application 
of advanced technologies in the training 
of human resources for tourism, and at 
the same time associate training content 
with specifi c requirements and updates of 
groups of employment positions in the in-
dustry. Training institutions should focus 
on training high-quality human resources, 
management personnel at all levels. Links 
between schools and businesses should be 
enhanced and training models in tourism 
businesses need to be deployed, to ensure 
the eff ectiveness of training and retraining 
activities.
Fourth, improving the technology 
infrastructure and information system of 
the tourism industry:
 Improve the technology infrastruc-
ture system to ensure connectivity and 
enhance the ability of workers to access 
and use technology in the industry. At 
the same time, it is necessary to form and 
build a tourism labor market information 
system to promote the supply-demand 
connection, and improve the effi ciency 
of the labor supply-demand connection in 
the tourism sector.
Fifth, promoting international co-
operation, strengthen public-private co-
operation:
Promote international coopera-
tion activities, strengthen public-private 
cooperation in tourism human resource 
development through expert exchange 
programs, training, retraining and invest-
ment cooperation in training infrastruc-
ture, public infrastructure technology ... 
to improve human resources, improve the 
application of new technologies in man-
agement, tourism business and other jobs.
The development of tourism and the 
explosion of Industry 4.0 not only bring op-
portunities but also create great challenges 
for Vietnam’s tourism industry, especially 
in the development of human resources in 
response to the new situation. By actively 
innovating thoughts and actions in the de-
velopment of human resources in tourism 
- ensuring suffi cient quantity and ensuring 
the quality of human resources, Vietnam 
tourism really has a solid foundation to 
seize the “spearhead” role in the national 
economy and to develop sustainably.
References:
1. Nguyen Van Dinh (2019), Vietnam tourism 
human resource in the Industrial Revolution 
4.0, Conference Proceedings, Institute of 
Tourism Development Research.
2. Vietnam National Administration of Tour-
ism (2011), Vietnam Tourism Development 
Strategy to 2020, Vision 2030, Hanoi
3. World Economic Forum (2019), The Travel 
and Tourism Competitiveness Report. 
Author address: Faculty of Tourism - Hanoi 
Open University
Email: maintt@hou.edu.vn