Until October 2018, the number of international visitors coming to Vietnam was estimated at nearly 13 million, 22.4% higher than in the same period in 2017. In the past 3 years, Vietnam's tourism has grown rapidly. In the World Tourism Organization's “Tourism Highlights 2018” report, Vietnam is ranked third among the 10 countries with the fastest growing international tourist arrivals in the world in 2017. The contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has continuously increased, from 6.3% in 2015 to 6.9% (in 2016) and 7.9% (in 2017).
Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists also increased rapidly with about 70 million visitors every year. Many tourist destinations in Vietnam have been discovered and made into interesting attractions. However, there are only less than 13,000 domestic and international tour guides, making it hard in handling the great number of visitors. In fact, this number of tour guides only meets 50% of the industry needs.
According to the Center for Manpower Forecast, in the period of 2018-2025 to 2030, the labor demand in the Tourism industry would be about 27,000 people annually. The high demand for manpower has created abundant employment options for Bachelors of Tourism and Travel Management with attractive initial salary.