Factors Affecting the Culture of Communication with Tourists at Dalat Tourism Businesses

daily business operations, as in the case of Phuong Trang Company Limited (Da Lat).

2.3 FACTORS AFFECTING THE CULTURE OF COMMUNICATION WITH TOURISTS AT DALAT TOURISM BUSINESSES

2.3.1 Tourism human resources

Labor working in tourism businesses includes direct labor and indirect labor in management departments. In which, the direct labor department is the department that regularly has to contact and communicate with customers.

Some job positions require employees to have qualifications, good communication skills, especially communication in foreign languages such as: hotel management, receptionist, tour guide, etc. These employees often have high qualifications (university) but only a few are trained in tourism, the rest are in other specialties such as: foreign languages, literature, etc.; professional jobs such as: waiters, room service, ticket sellers, drivers, etc. have low staff qualifications, most of them are trained in short-term tourism skills, on-site, and have weak foreign languages. Thus, the workforce working in tourism businesses today has a fairly high level of training in non-tourism industries, so they are not fully equipped with professional knowledge and communication skills at work, leading to low professionalism.

Tourism training level

Table 2.3 Vocational training level of tourism staff in Da Lat

Education level

Rate (%)
University	7
College	2
Intermediate	15
Primary	27
Vocational certificate	4
No vocational training	45
Total	100

Maybe you are interested!

(Source: Scientific topic "Promoting human resource development for Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism to ensure competitiveness in the process of international economic integration")

Although the number of workers trained in tourism accounts for more than half, looking at the above ratio, it shows that the majority are low-level - about 46%, high-level (college, university) only reaches 9%. The level of tourism labor force in Da Lat is therefore low in professionalism due to lack of professional knowledge. This reduces the ability to compete and attract tourists to Da Lat. In the future, Da Lat is oriented to develop into a tourism center of the country and the Asian region, prioritizing the development of high-end tourism types such as conference tourism, seminar tourism, medical tourism, etc., so the above tourism staff cannot meet the development requirements.

Foreign language proficiency

Table 2.4 Foreign language proficiency of tourism staff in Da Lat

Foreign language

Rate (%)
English	46
French	2
Japanese	1
Chinese	1
Don't know foreign language	50
Total	100

(Source: Scientific topic "Promoting human resource development for Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism to ensure competitiveness in the process of international economic integration")

According to the above data, the tourism staff in Da Lat has not met the requirements of serving foreign tourists. Foreign language skills are average and mainly English. In particular, there is a serious shortage of staff who can communicate in French, Japanese, and Chinese. With the increasing number of tourists coming to Da Lat, the rate of 50% of tourism staff not knowing foreign languages is a big barrier. This is also consistent with the assessment of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism that the foreign language skills of Vietnam's tourism human resources are both lacking and weak in all aspects.

Ability to deal with tourists

Table 2.5: Survey results on some recommended behaviors of Dalat tourism staff

SHOULD BEHAVIOR

Regularly do (%)	Do it sometimes (%)	Never do (%)
Ready to help tourists	86	12	2
Control your anger when arguing with tourists	68	25	7
Consider serving drunk travelers traveling alone	36	53	10
Stop serving drunk tourists traveling alone	49	35	15
Average rate	60	31	9

(Source: Scientific topic "Promoting human resource development for Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism to ensure competitiveness in the process of international economic integration")

Table 2.6: Survey results on some recommended behaviors that should not be done by Da Lat tourism staff

BEHAVIORS NOT TO DO

Never do (%)	Do it sometimes (%)	Regularly do (%)
Chat with solo travelers	35	40	25
First time visitor review	77	13	10
Clearing the table without asking the guests	75	19	6
Personal phone call to keep customer waiting	78	15	7
Average rate	66	22	12

(Source: Scientific topic "Promoting human resource development for Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism to ensure competitiveness in the process of international economic integration")

The above results show that the ability to choose behavior and control appropriate behavior towards tourists is at an average level. A number of employees have not yet formed the habit of civilized behavior towards customers, and have behaviors that are not in accordance with professional rules in serving tourists. Appropriate behaviors have not yet become permanent habits in each employee. The reason may be due to the fact that the training and coaching of employees has not reached professional standards according to the statistics on the level of employees through tourism training above, or it may be due to the problem of human resource management in enterprises that is not strict, lacking incentives and reasonable sanctions.

Human resources are more valuable than any other resource of an enterprise. High-quality human resources will be the driving force for business development. Currently, in Da Lat city, there are many schools training in tourism such as: Da Lat University, Yersin University, Da Lat Vocational College, Da Lat Technical High School, etc. This is an abundant and quality source of human resources for the tourism industry. However, Da Lat tourism businesses have not taken advantage of this advantage, most clearly shown in the fact that most of the tourism staff are not trained in tourism, work outside their expertise, seasonal staff so their professionalism is low, leading to tourists often complaining about the service attitude, behavior, and communication of the staff.

2.3.2 The influence of individual psychology in the culture of communication with tourists

Communication is an activity to exchange information and establish relationships between people, so it is greatly influenced by the psychological state of the communication objects. Communication at work forces the communication objects to adjust their behavior so as not to be affected by negative psychological states, such as when they are sad, upset, etc.

The characteristics of human resources of tourism enterprises are uneven qualifications (from unskilled workers to university graduates), the workforce is not highly trained in the tourism industry, meaning that not many employees have been trained in communication skills, but most tourism employees are aware of the importance of communication.

importance of communication in their work. Therefore, when their mental state is not good, they will try to adjust themselves so that personal feelings do not affect the communication process with customers.

However, both employees and visitors commented that many employees are still affected by personal feelings in communication:

+ When happy, employees communicate openly, comfortably, talk more and

Sometimes there is a bit of humor in the story.

+ When sad, communication is limited, employees talk less, are less enthusiastic and have less patience with customers.

Particularly in businesses where employees have been instructed by the company on communication culture before starting work, awareness of this issue is very good. Employees always clearly distinguish between personal feelings and work. When working, they put work first, always smiling and friendly with customers.

2.3.3 The objects of tourism activities are people.

Tourism is a special business, both having material products and a culturally rich field. It reflects both the economic and cultural aspects through communication between people. Because the service object is people, it is relatively sensitive, requiring skillful and subtle communication.

Tourism products must satisfy both the material and spiritual needs of tourists in a complete way, one of the two aspects cannot be lacking. Tourists can only feel satisfied with the products and services of the business when they are provided with good service, attractive products, satisfying the needs of rest, entertainment, relaxation, etc., and at the same time feel served wholeheartedly, thoughtfully, and receive respect from the business.

Because the service object is people, businesses should not only focus on tangible material factors, but also need to perfect the factors belonging to the business's own culture. Improve the ability to communicate, behave delicately and skillfully of employees so that customers using the business's services feel most satisfied and worthy.

Tourists can include many different components: government officials, business people, farmers, workers, students, etc. Nowadays, due to the improvement of people's living standards, their intellectual and aesthetic levels are also higher, they have their own personalities and thoughts. Their requirements for products and services are not only based on material values but must also have spiritual values, cultural elements of the business. Tourists choosing tourism products and services are not only interested in material comfort factors but also look at how the business cares and treats them. Therefore, the cultural communication factor is also an important part in making the products and services of tourism businesses complete.

2.3.4 National culture

Communication culture is also a part of national culture. Therefore, building a communication culture in tourism businesses needs to inherit the subtleties in communication culture and behavior of Vietnamese people in general, and Da Lat people in particular.

The characteristic of Vietnamese people is that they both like to communicate and are very shy. Vietnam is an agricultural country, people often have to fight against natural disasters and enemies, this characteristic makes members of the community need to rely on each other to survive. Therefore, Vietnamese people attach great importance to maintaining relationships between members of the community, which is the reason for valuing communication. Communication creates relationships and strengthens affection. But when communication goes beyond the familiar community, in front of strangers, Vietnamese people are very shy, this is something that many foreign visitors often mention.

The agricultural culture with its characteristic of valuing emotions has led to the Vietnamese people often using emotions, taking love and hate as the principle of behavior (Love each other, let go of everything; Love each other, love the path, hate each other, hate all relatives, etc.). In life, Vietnamese people live with reason and emotion but still tend to be more emotional. Therefore, in communication, Vietnamese people tend to behave according to emotions.

In communication, Vietnamese people prefer tact, thoughtfulness and harmony. This is also a product of a lifestyle that values affection and a way of thinking that values relationships. It creates the habit of thinking carefully before speaking so as not to offend the listener. To maintain harmony, Vietnamese people smile a lot. Smiling is an important part of Vietnamese communication habits. Smiling creates the image of Vietnamese people as friendly and hospitable.

In addition, the Vietnamese culture of behavior is also expressed through the attitude of praising the interlocutor and being modest towards oneself. This is a behavioral principle that has always been highly respected. Therefore, when communicating, the elements accompanying speech: tone, speaking loudly or softly, speaking quickly or slowly, etc. are also in harmony according to the above principle.

Regarding the behavioral culture of Da Lat people, it can be said that due to the influence of favorable climate and soil conditions, the harmonious living environment between people and nature has created a gentle and peaceful way of communicating of Da Lat people, which has been highly appreciated by tourists. This behavioral trait is one of the beautiful and unique cultural traits of Da Lat tourism. But now, with the massive development of tourism businesses, many businesses operate in a temporary and opportunistic manner, leading to changes in the culture of communication and behavior with tourists. Haggling often occurs, making tourists feel annoyed, many tourists no longer want to return to Da Lat tourism, partly because the communication culture of businesses has degraded.

In fact, the quiet lifestyle, somewhat closed style, and lack of acceptance of excitement create a disadvantage in the communication of Da Lat people, which is very passive and not bold. Many tourism staff are also affected by this mentality and are often not proactive in communicating with customers. This is a major limitation in communication, because then employees will not have the conditions to exchange information, receive opinions and convey necessary information to customers. Meanwhile, customers always want to receive attention from the business. Communication culture reflects the face of the business, a passive attitude easily makes tourists feel inferior.

Comment