truly innovative, lacking in sensitivity, boldness, daring to think and act, not meeting the requirements of consulting and state management in the area.
There are not many skilled workers, formally trained from primary, secondary, university and post-graduate levels in tourism. Most of the workers in tourism-related service departments do not have the concept of tourism knowledge, skills and communication style with tourists, which also affects the quality of local tourism products. Tourism is a foreign economic sector, requiring work in many fields in the industry to have contact with international tourists. However, in general, the foreign language level of workers in the tourism industry is still very weak, and has not received much attention in training in the past. The team of tour guides fluent in rare foreign languages such as German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, etc. is still very small. Knowledge about culture - society, civilization in communication of the majority of people, first of all those who trade and do business in services, has not been raised for training and fostering.
The above realities have been affecting the quality of tourism products and affecting development needs in the coming time.
2.1.4.3. Causes of the existing problems of Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism
* Objective reasons
The world situation in the early years of the 21st century had complex fluctuations that negatively impacted the Vietnamese tourism industry in general and Da Lat - Lam Dong in particular, such as: economic and financial fluctuations on a global scale, terrorism, epidemics, natural disasters... which affected the overall development of the tourism industry.
Competition and market sharing among major tourist centers in the region and the country are increasingly fierce. Moreover, the needs and tastes of tourists tend to change with increasingly high demands.
The current air transport system is still in the process of completion and has not been put into operation, so it has not really created favorable conditions for attracting visitors and investors, and is also a disadvantage for the tourism industry in Da Lat - Lam Dong compared to other countries.
Other localities. Intra-provincial and inter-regional road traffic is in the process of being completed and invested in, but has not yet fully utilized its role in promoting tourism development.
Tourism in the Central Highlands in general and Da Lat - Lam Dong in particular have not had the conditions to connect and exploit tourist flows of tourist routes that have great attraction for tourists, especially international tourists such as: Central Heritage Road, Vietnam Cross-country Journey, Sea Tourism... Meanwhile, tourist routes with great potential such as "Central Highlands Green Road", "Traveling back to the old battlefield" of the region have not been well connected and exploited.
The seasonality of tourism greatly affects the number of visitors to Da Lat - Lam Dong, significantly reducing revenue. Supply is greater than demand, leading to a number of negative factors in business such as: "brokers", price dumping...
* Subjective causes
Although awareness of the nature, role and position of the tourism industry in the local economy among all levels, sectors, businesses and people has changed to some extent, it is still not high and not profound, so it has not created a combined strength to promote local economic development.
Coordination between levels and sectors in management and implementation still has many shortcomings, overlaps, and divisions in the division of labor and management decentralization.
Although the tourism development mechanism and policies have been improved positively, the administrative procedures are still cumbersome and unreasonable, so they have not really created an open and attractive investment environment for investors. Many difficulties and obstacles in business activities are slow to be resolved and resolved promptly for businesses, and have not attracted many investors with large capital sources, high-end products and technology, diversity and modern management to create a breakthrough in tourism development.
Although the growth rate of the industry is not low, however, due to the low starting point of the locality, it is facing intertwined opportunities and challenges. The risk of lagging behind the economy in general, including tourism, still exists.
Faced with the above reality, all levels and sectors need to boldly innovate their thinking, actively have breakthrough solutions, accelerate, and strive to make tourism a driving economic sector of the province.
2.2. Current status of tourism service business activities in Da Lat - Lam Dong
2.2.1. Overview of tourism business activities in Da Lat - Lam Dong
Located on the Lam Vien plateau with many hills and mountains, Da Lat is a beautiful resort city located among pine forests and poetic waterfalls. Because of these characteristics, the accommodation industry appeared in Da Lat very early, and has undergone many changes throughout history.
The first “building” in Dalat was a thatched barracks in 1898, followed by a wooden house with a corrugated iron roof of the French consul in 1900. Hotel Du Lac opened in 1907. In 1916, the French built the Hotel du Langbian Palace. Dalat truly became a city when the French built the city according to the overall design of architect Ernest Hébrard.
Dalat Palace, formerly Langbian Palace, was inaugurated in 1922. It is a large, luxurious hotel with modern facilities and 30 rooms. (Lam Dong Tourism Company, a joint venture with DRI Company, upgraded the hotel in 1991).
Built in 1932, the Novotel Dalat Hotel has been carefully restored and is now an ideal base for exploring the suburbs, Xuan Huong Lake, or the tennis and golf courses. The Novotel is known for its international standards, warmth and quality. Modern and stylish, the Novotel is located in the commercial center and is a popular tourist destination in Dalat.
Dalat has many unique constructions, most of which are characterized by French architecture. In recent times, the entire urban architecture of Dalat city has been destroyed by unplanned construction, encroachment for housing and illegal construction in villas. Compared to many other cities in the country, Dalat is still a young city, but it is a city with Western-style design projects. Dalat was formerly a city built by the French for the French, and all design projects had to be approved by the Government.
The decision-making power, engineers, architects, and delegations that went to Da Lat to study the renovation and construction were all carefully selected and must have good professional qualifications.
After decades of ups and downs along with the city's history, hotels in Dalat today have been upgraded and built, scattered throughout the city. High-class hotels have been built recently such as:
In 1993, the Asia Hotel construction project was approved and started, which is now Golf 3 Hotel on the site of Langbian Hotel in the center of Da Lat city. The project scale is a modern international standard hotel with a 7-storey high synchronous service system including 78 bedrooms, with a total construction area of 1,600m2 .
Hoang Anh Da Lat Resort - The first luxury resort in Da Lat. This resort started construction in September 2004 with a capital of 81 billion VND, renovating 10 resort villas with 120 5-star rooms, 3 restaurants that can serve 550 guests, a restaurant serving weddings with a capacity of 700 guests (with 6 private dining rooms with a capacity of 20 people/room), a hall with modern equipment for international conferences with a capacity of 350 people.
By the end of 2008, five tourism facilities had been put into use, including: Ana Mandara Villas Da Lat resort, Ngoc Lan hotel, Blue Moon, Saigon - Da Lat and Sammy - Da Lat hotel.
2.2.1.1. Number of accommodation establishments
The number of accommodation establishments in Da Lat - Lam Dong in the past period has made remarkable progress, with the number of hotels increasing continuously over the years, gradually bringing the province's accommodation industry into harmony with the development of the tourism industry.
Currently, the whole province has 673 accommodation establishments, with a total of 11,000 rooms, accommodating about 40,000 guests/day and night. The number of accommodation establishments in 2009 increased by 289 (an increase of 199.7%) compared to 2000, gradually meeting the needs of tourists during the peak season.
Table 2.4: Number of accommodation establishments in Da Lat - Lam Dong in the period 2000 - 2009
Target
Year | ||||||||||
2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
Accommodation | 384 | 400 | 434 | 550 | 679 | 690 | 715 | 767 | 677 | 673 |
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(Source: Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism)
2.2.1.2. Quality of accommodation facilities serving tourism
The quality of accommodation facilities in Da Lat - Lam Dong is currently being improved in terms of the number of hotels meeting 1 to 5 star standards and the quality of services, as shown below:
Table 2.5: Accommodation establishments in the period 2005 – 2009 by owner
Owner
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Year 2008 | Year 2009 | ||||||
Hotel | Room | Hotel | Room | Hotel | Room | Hotel | Room | Hotel | Room | |
Business agriculture | 31 | 875 | 47 | 1326 | 34 | 1570 | 28 | 1,200 | 20 | 864 |
Business TN industry | 622 | 5068 | 630 | 5231 | 676 | 6847 | 563 | 7913 | 556 | 7874 |
100% capital foreign | 1 | 43 | 2 | 98 | 3 | 148 | 4 | 155 | 6 | 232 |
Joint venture domestic | 2 | 212 | 4 | 405 | 10 | 985 | 12 | 1050 | 10 | 983 |
Company share | 5 | 87 | 7 | 125 | 9 | 150 | 10 | 300 | 13 | 387 |
Ingredient other | 29 | 285 | 25 | 245 | 35 | 300 | 60 | 583 | 68 | 660 |
(Source: Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism)
Regarding the quality of accommodation facilities, up to now, the whole province has a total of 673 tourist accommodation facilities, with a total of 11,000 rooms, with a maximum capacity of about 40,000 guests/day - night. Of which, there are 85 high-class hotels from 1-5 stars with 2,976 rooms, including 11 high-class hotels from 3-5 stars with 927 rooms and 588 tourist accommodation facilities.
meet standards with over 8,000 rooms. In Da Lat city alone, it accounts for over 90% of the total accommodation facilities in the province. The quantity and quality of services for guests in hotels are increasingly improved, including: restaurants, dance halls, massage, sauna, karaoke, internet, tennis, swimming pools, health care, hair care, beauty, conference - seminar services..., many accommodation facilities also organize travel services to organize tours for tourists. Basically meeting the needs of tourists at the present time.
In 2009, the organization appraised and re-appraised 228 accommodation establishments in the province. Of which, 18 2-star hotels, 11 1-star hotels, 166 standard tourist accommodation establishments, 2 resort bungalows in 2 tourist areas and 31 unqualified tourist accommodation establishments were proposed for upgrading for re-appraisal. In addition, it coordinated with the General Department of Tourism to appraise and recognize star ratings for 70 1-4 star accommodation establishments and 60 establishments that met the standard rating.
Tourist accommodation establishments, especially 1-5 star hotels, have organized and provided many other services and products such as: conference halls, restaurants, dance floors, karaoke, massage, spa, bar, cafe, internet, office services, gyms, hairdressing, beauty care, transportation... Many accommodation establishments also organize travel services to serve tourists when needed.
Based on the table of accommodation establishments over the years from 2004 to 2009, we can see that the number of accommodation establishments owned by state-owned enterprises in 2004 was 31, by 2005 it had increased to 47, however by 2006 it had decreased to 34 and by 2009 the number of accommodation establishments with this form of ownership was only 20. As for the number of accommodation establishments owned by foreign enterprises, joint ventures or joint stock companies, it increased, specifically for the form of 100% foreign capital ownership in 2004 there was 1 establishment, by 2008 there were 6 establishments, for the form of joint venture in 2004 there were 2 establishments, by 2007 there were 12 establishments, for the form of joint stock companies in 2007 there were 12 establishments, for the form of joint stock companies in 2008 there were 1 establishment, by 2008 there were 1 establishment, for the form of joint venture in 2008 there were 1 establishment, by 2008 there were 1 establishment, for the form of joint venture in 2008 there were 1 establishment, by 2008 there were 1 establishment, for the form of joint venture in 2008 there were 1 establishment, by 2008 there were 1 establishment, for the form of joint stock company ... 2004 was 5 facilities, by 2009 it was 13 facilities. This is an inevitable consequence of the integration period.
economy. And a positive aspect of this form of ownership conversion is that it will increase competitiveness in the market economy, the business activities of the establishments will no longer be bureaucratic and the mentality of "doing more is the same, doing less is the same" as in the subsidy period. The reality of the business activities of State-owned enterprises is often not as effective as private enterprises, joint-stock enterprises or enterprises with foreign investment capital, because State-owned enterprises often do not consider the profit factor as the top priority, so the service for customers does not follow the modern marketing orientation, that is, business activities must be customer-oriented, to satisfy customers. For the above reason, the conversion of the form of ownership (reducing the number of accommodation establishments under State ownership) will make accommodation establishments focus on the quality of their products and tourists coming to Da Lat in recent years have gradually been satisfied with the products of the accommodation industry. However, awareness of this is only present in some large hotels, not really in the awareness of all accommodation businesses, so the results are not high.
Improving the quality of accommodation facilities is currently of interest, businesses operating in this field also pay great attention to the quality of their accommodation facilities. However, the rate of accommodation facilities meeting quality standards from 1 to 5 stars is still very limited, this is a problem that needs to be overcome to promote the development of accommodation business in the coming time.
2.2.1.3. Seasonality in tourism business in Da Lat - Lam Dong
Seasonality in tourism in Da Lat - Lam Dong is quite evident. The factors affecting seasonality here are mainly weather, festivals, traditional New Year... Seasonality has a general impact on the tourism industry and thereby affects the efficiency of the accommodation business, with a shortage of rooms during the peak season and no guests during the low season. It not only directly affects the revenue of the accommodation business but also causes negative impacts or factors in business activities such as: during the peak season, hotels increase prices abnormally, causing tourists to have bad feelings and be hesitant when traveling to Da Lat, during the low season
At the same time, there are problems with "brokers", luring tourists, dumping prices, unfair competition...
The biggest obstacle at present is the weather factor that strongly affects the seasonality. The rainy season in Da Lat often rains continuously and for a long time, making it difficult to organize tourism programs. The tourist areas and spots in Da Lat are mainly for outdoor sightseeing and picnicking such as: mountain climbing, sightseeing, boating... During the rainy season, these activities cannot take place, so tourists often do not come to Da Lat during long rainy periods. The rainy season in Da Lat lasts from May to November, however, this is the summer vacation time, so apart from the period of tropical depression and long storms, the number of visitors here is still very large.
Overcoming this seasonality is currently an extremely difficult problem, because in reality, the development of tourism activities during the rainy season currently has no satisfactory solution.
2.2.2. Service human resources:
The hotel business department plays a very important role in the existing service system of the Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism industry. Up to now, the whole province has about 4,500 direct workers and 8,000 indirect workers working in the hotel sector and other sectors supporting accommodation activities such as: restaurants, massage, karaoke, dance clubs...
The number of employees working in the reception department in hotels ranges from 1200 to 1500 direct workers. The housekeeping department also accounts for the majority of the staff working in this department, currently there are about 2500 to 3000 direct workers, but depending on the tourist season, the number of employees increases or decreases, in the peak season the number of employees can be up to 4000 direct workers, on the contrary, in the low season the number of direct workers decreases to only about 1500 to 2000. The number of employees working in the restaurant department in hotels is currently up to more than 600 workers. Restaurant business is the second most important department in generating revenue for accommodation establishments today.