The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) on August 13 held a seminar on the implementation of the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals for the local tourism sector.

The seminar was organised with the technical support of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme (ESRT).

Representatives from ministries, tourism training institutions, hotels, tourism agencies and associations learnt about the implementation mechanism of the MRA, which will come into effect in the ASEAN economic community in 2015.

The MRA facilitates the free movement and employment of qualified and certified personnel between the bloc’s member states.

It will help Vietnam attract skilled workers to fill the shortage in the local tourism sector.

To see through the agreement, VNAT has worked with ESRT to design a handbook to guide the implementation of the MRA in the region, the handbook was adopted by ASEAN tourism ministers at their meeting in Laos in mid-January and has been provided to all member nations.

Other guidelines for staff, recruiters and tourism training institutions will also be posted on the Internet to better execute the agreement.-VNA