Japan is among the top three international inbound visitor markets to Vietnam. Japanese visitors love to listen to Vietnamese traditional music, buy traditional crafts, and enjoy the specialties of well-known Vietnamese chefs. Although Japanese tourists are keen to experience Vietnamese culture, the language represents a cultural barrier to this market. When in Vietnam, Japanese tourists prefer to communicate in their mother tongue and demand Japanese language-speaking tour guides. However, in Vietnam there is a shortage of qualified tour guides who speak Japanese. There are only two professional guides serving Japanese tours in Hochiminh city (ITPC, 2005). One of the reasons is the lack of education and training of Vietnamese tour guides. The school programs do not respond to the needs of the Vietnamese tourism industry. Students are lacking practical knowledge of industry operations and do not learn languages of their international visitors. Dealing with the demanding Japanese tourist market is more difficult than dealing with other international tourist markets.

Identify the problem in the case scenario?



What do you think should be done to solve the dilemma? Give all possible solutions.
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