Some Basic Limitations on Promoting Human Factors in Economic Development of Tourism in Lao People's Democratic Republic Today and Causes

domestic and international labor markets, especially the adoption of the Resolution on domestic human resource development" [60, pp. 1, 2]. From there, it serves as a basis for the Government and local authorities to develop plans, mechanisms and policies for human resource development and considers this one of the top priority areas. On the other hand, the Government of the Lao PDR has also attached importance to the issue of improving legal documents related to human factor development in a systematic manner and in accordance with the policies, guidelines and orientations of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party through the 9th and 10th Congresses.

In addition, in recent years, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism has coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Lao Embassies and Consulates abroad to provide necessary information on culture and tourism to promote and communicate about Laos's tourism economy worldwide. Communication experts from the information, culture and tourism sector have also been sent to Lao Embassies and Consulates abroad, especially in strategic partner countries, to carry out communication tasks about Laos, the culture and tourism industry that is currently developing vigorously. At the same time, Lao Embassies and Consulates abroad regularly organize cultural events or festival activities to promote Lao culture abroad [99, p.9]. Not only that, the Lao Government has spent about 23 billion kip/year to organize tourism promotion policy activities for 12 months in domestic and foreign media. The Government has also planned to participate in overseas tourism events such as the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2018 in Chiang Mai (Thailand), the World Travel Trade Show 2018 in Berlin (Germany), the World Travel Expo in Paris (France), the Laos Festival in Japan, the Ho Chi Minh International Travel Expo in Vietnam and the World Travel Market in London.

Second , the reason for the achievement in creating a democratic and fair environment. In recent years, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the Lao PDR have focused on

Maybe you are interested!

implementing democracy to promote the human factor in tourism economic development. In addition, the Party and State of the Lao PDR also pay attention to building and perfecting legal bases as the basis for the process of implementing social justice to promote the human factor in tourism economic development, through which everyone has equal opportunities to develop their own abilities. In particular, the people in general and the human resources in the tourism economic sector in particular have trusted, actively strived, and enhanced their sense of responsibility. On the other hand, the creation of a fair and democratic environment has achieved results also stemming from the strategy of great national unity.

has been carried out very successfully, thereby helping each individual and community to best promote their abilities, capacities as well as good traditional cultural values to contribute to the development of the economy in general and the tourism economy in particular. In addition, the assessment and recognition of the capacity, qualifications and abilities of each person has also been given more importance and each person has received a level of treatment commensurate with the effort they put in.

Together with the Government, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism has also “organized a Sustainable Tourism Fair, thereby providing opportunities for hotel and restaurant businesses, tourism businesses, tourism service product providers, workers and people to access information as well as the current state of the tourism industry” [142], thereby giving individuals and organizations the opportunity to grasp information to plan the development process. In particular, in the recent period, LNCCI has arranged special meetings to mobilize the public and private sectors in Laos “to discuss tourism-related issues, cooperate to solve problems that hinder tourism economic development, and seek effective solutions to promote tourism-related businesses to enhance the contribution of the tourism service industry to economic growth” [96, p.12].

Third , the cause of achievements in creating an environment of physical facilities

In recent years, the Lao Party and State have attached importance to more reasonable allocation of budget resources for the construction, repair and upgrading of educational facilities at all levels, especially vocational schools, while attaching importance to cooperation, mobilization and coordination with other countries and international organizations to improve the material facilities serving the process of improving the quality of human resources, labor, and human factors in the economy in general and the tourism economy in particular.

At the same time, the Lao Government has tried to focus on investing in tourism infrastructure by creating favorable conditions for private enterprises to invest and contribute capital to the development of highway, waterway and air transport systems to build a synchronous transport network. In addition, it attaches importance to integrating infrastructure development contents towards tourism economic development in the annual Infrastructure Working Group (ISWG) Conference, thereby setting out infrastructure development goals to promote tourism economic growth and poverty reduction, achieving sustainable and inclusive development goals, and developing urban areas into green, competitive centers.

100

On the other hand, Laos has an important role in facilitating infrastructure connectivity across the region with major initiatives in the rail and road sectors to link its neighbours. Therefore, in the recent period, the Lao Government has committed to developing policies and plans to capture potential economic benefits, investing in infrastructure to enhance connectivity with ASEAN to “complement the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan 2025 and the GMS Transport Sector Strategy 2030 with multilateral cooperation agreements and frameworks in place covering road, rail, air, waterway, logistics and cross-border facilities, thereby facilitating the development of the tourism economy” [97, p.5].

3.3. SOME BASIC LIMITATIONS ON PROMOTING HUMAN FACTORS IN TOURISM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE LAOS PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC TODAY AND THEIR CAUSES

3.3.1. Some basic limitations

3.3.1.1. Limitations in training and fostering human resources in tourism economic development in the Lao People's Democratic Republic today

Training and fostering human resources in tourism economic development in Lao PDR in recent years still has certain limitations as shown in the following contents:

One is , on training human resources to serve the development of tourism economy in Lao PDR.

In recent years, the training and teaching methods in training institutions across the country have not kept up with the world, so the skills and qualifications of graduates have not met the standards, clearly shown through foreign language proficiency, soft skills, especially communication skills, which have not met the standards required by countries and international tourism organizations. In addition, there is still a large gap between supply and demand in training human resources to serve the tourism industry, training is not professional, and the quality is not high, especially in the context of rapidly increasing growth and competition requirements in the region and internationally in the tourism sector. The issue of career guidance and training structure in Laos still has many shortcomings compared to other countries, and the education system in Laos is developing slowly, especially in training high-quality human resources.

In addition, in the past, national tour guide training has been carried out with many courses, however, the time and content have not been

101

focus on helping tour guides gain more in-depth and systematic knowledge about Lao culture, history and people, so guiding and explaining to tourists is not effective. At the same time, the distribution of labor among fields and regions is not suitable; the number of laborers in enterprises requiring high expertise and skills is both lacking and weak, the number of laborers who do not meet the requirements is redundant; especially new tourist areas lack trained human resources. Not only that, training of officials in the tourism sector in localities is not really considered important to suit the needs of management work, with the development of society, especially in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the management of domestic and foreign labor is not strict.

Second , on training human resources to serve the development of tourism economy in Lao PDR.

In the recent period, the training of workers in various fields and training of human resources for enterprises and tourism associations in the province has not been as effective as expected. The content of the program, time and participants have not been really proactive and active in the training process, so the positive impacts have not really met the requirements. On the other hand, the training of tourism lecturers has not helped lecturers make major changes in knowledge, methods and practical experience, thereby helping them improve their ability to impart knowledge to learners at universities and vocational schools.

In addition, the training of tourism personnel as well as training of tourism management staff has been carried out, but mainly focused on serving tourism at the central level, and famous tourist destinations in some localities, many other localities have untapped tourism potential, have not received due attention. Therefore, it has not had much impact to help the management of human resource development in particular as well as the development of tourism economy in localities to achieve the desired results.

3.3.1.2. Limitations on human resource use in tourism economic development in the Lao People's Democratic Republic today

The process of using human resources in developing tourism economy in Lao PDR in recent times still has certain limitations. This is shown through the following points:

First , human resource selection in tourism economic development.

In the recent period, the use of human resources in tourism economic development in Lao PDR also has certain limitations, shown first in the process of

102

The process of selecting human resources for training in tourism economics in general, as well as vocational training in tourism in particular, has not yet attracted the attention of students after graduating from high school. This is a huge limitation for the process of building human resources to serve the sustainable development of tourism economy in the coming years, as well as directly affecting the level and efficiency of human resources serving in the tourism economy, because individuals with professional qualifications and foreign language proficiency are not ready to work in the private tourism environment. At the same time, the process of selecting people with motivation, positivity, passion for dedicated service, and the desire to contribute and promote their role in the field of tourism economics has not been much. Therefore, the work of training and fostering human resources in a systematic way to have high-quality human resources, with in-depth understanding of tourism economics at home and abroad has not yet achieved positive results in the recent past.

In addition, the recruitment of people in the tourism industry in general, as well as the recruitment of human resources from ethnic minorities, especially resources from famous tourist destinations in national parks, famous waterfalls and caves in districts across the country, has not been given much attention by agencies and companies in the tourism industry. This issue will need to be better implemented to recruit people who understand the meaning and importance of tourist destinations, as well as the impacts of tourism economic development on the locality, thereby enhancing the synchronous strength with many constituent elements to promote the human factor in the process of tourism economic development in the Lao PDR.

Second , human resource arrangement in tourism economic development.

The work of arranging human resources in promoting human factors in tourism economic development in recent times still has certain limitations, shown through the following factors:

The arrangement of human resources has not been really effective when in Laos there are many industries that directly and indirectly serve the tourism industry without workers. In addition, jobs that require high skills with the qualifications, abilities, and expertise that the market needs are not available in sufficient quantity. In particular, the planning and implementation of plans on the arrangement of human resources of the tourism industry in the overall labor resources of the country have not been thoroughly studied and implemented, in order to serve as a basis for the implementation process in practice.

103

In addition, the arrangement of human resources in the tourism industry in practice is not effective, as shown by the fact that the tour guide team is not properly trained, many tour guides do not have knowledge of the country's history, especially the history associated with tourist destinations, and lack language skills, especially English. Many workers have not been able to work according to their abilities, nor have they been arranged according to their interests and strengths, and many have not yet fully developed their abilities during the working process.

Third , human resource arrangement in tourism economic development

The process of using human resources in the development of tourism economy in recent times also has certain limitations in the process of arranging human resources. We can see through the following contents:

In recent years, the development of the world's tourism economy has entered a new phase with breakthrough achievements thanks to the promotion of the central factor that determines this change, which is high-quality human resources that are appropriately arranged to be able to fully develop their capabilities. However, in the recent period, the arrangement of human resources in promoting the human factor in tourism economic development in Lao PDR has not been well implemented, so it has not been possible to best promote the level, ability, motivation, and efforts of each person.

In particular, the process of Lao PDR participating in international economic integration in general, and ASEAN integration in tourism economic development in particular, has caused many changes in traditional factors such as land resources, labor, and capital. Therefore, the arrangement of human resources to take advantage of gray matter to increase the content of crystallized knowledge in tourism products in tourism economic development to compete with multinational companies, tourism development strategies of other countries in the region and in the world have not been well implemented.

Fourth , human planning in tourism economic development

Along with recruitment, arrangement and placement of human resources, in the recent period, human resource planning in tourism economic development also has certain limitations, which are clearly shown through the following main contents:

Planning of resources in tourism economic development has not yet met the practical development of the tourism economic sector. Therefore, although the planning has been implemented quite well, there is still a situation of both excess and shortage of resources in tourism economic development.

104

The development of tourism economy is still taking place. There is a surplus because the resources provided are quite abundant, but the quality of human resources has not yet met the requirements in terms of qualifications, skills, working style and efforts, so tourism businesses still have difficulty in meeting practical needs.

At the same time, human resource planning in tourism economic development has not effectively implemented specific and specific planning for each economic development region in the country. Therefore, it is still not possible to have human resources with unique and specific features to promote the differences and creativity of human factors in each locality to create unique features to attract tourists. On the other hand, planning has not yet taken into account the synchronization of human resources trained domestically and internationally as well as the competition of foreign human resources in the tourism economic sector in the Lao PDR.

In addition, the process of dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the recent period also shows the limitation in not taking into account the planning of promoting human factors in tourism economic development to respond well to the challenges that non-traditional security factors can directly impact the growth of the tourism economic sector, especially affecting the work, income and life of human resources serving the tourism economic sector nationwide. This needs to be included in the planning of resource development in tourism economic development in the coming time, thereby helping to ensure that human resources always respond well to the impact of objective factors.

3.3.1.3. Limitations in creating a suitable environment for human factors to operate in tourism economic development in the Lao People's Democratic Republic today

Although there have been important achievements in creating a suitable environment for human factors to operate in tourism economic development in Lao PDR, there are still certain limitations reflected in the following points:

First , about the environment, mechanisms and policies

Over the years, Laos has been facing a difficult task in attracting more tourists to stay longer, thereby contributing to the development of related service industries. This comes from barriers in the regulations of tourism agencies, tourism promotion funds, and policies that promote the gap between natural tourism and other types of tourism in the practical implementation of the National Tourism Promotion Strategy.

105

Besides, challenges are being faced such as lack of tourism promotion budget from central government, unclear management of different agencies, lack of regular consultation or strategic planning between public and private sectors.

In particular, there are still unfavorable legal barriers to the management of tour operators in attracting large groups of tourists to tourist destinations. This is “a priority issue for the Lao tourism industry that the Government needs to consider, in order to develop the tourism industry sustainably and help facilitate tourism-related service providers to maintain their competitiveness at the regional level” [95, p.10].

Second , about democratic and fair environment.

In practice, it can be seen that social equity in tourism economic development also has limitations, reflected in the development between regions that is not yet synchronized, the gap in qualifications and income of human resources in the tourism economic sector in localities is increasing. The promotion of a democratic and equitable environment in promoting the human factor in tourism economic development has not been effectively implemented when it has not really helped people in tourist destinations, especially ethnic minorities in some localities, to access information sources and priority support policies.

In addition, the implementation of coordination between national, provincial and local committees on human resource development, the provision of tools to evaluate and monitor plans for implementing the human resource development information system is still ineffective. The issue of collecting data related to human resource development on the number of graduates and the qualifications of each person to build and adjust mechanisms and policies to create democratic fairness in training, fostering and working opportunities is also ineffective.

Third , about the material conditions

In recent years, the facilities serving the training and development of human resources have been given importance, however, compared to the requirements of linking theory with practice and applying modern teaching methods to improve the effectiveness of current educational work, there are still many issues that need further improvement. In addition, in recent years, the issue of ensuring accommodation in dormitories for students of schools has been considered important and proposed by the Lao National Assembly, however, this has not yet been widely implemented in central and local schools.

Comment