Hello everyone. My name is Ayumi URATANI. I’m a sophomore student at the Department of Global Tourism Studies. Today, I will tell you about my experience of the Community Engagement Program in Vietnam, which took place from the 14th of November to the 17th of December in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. The members who participated in this CE program were separated into four groups to do internships: three groups for travel agencies and a group for a language school.

I did internship at the Ho Chi Minh branch of HIS. There were inbound and outbound business sections there. I belonged to JP Market, the outbound business section. JP Market is a department selling overseas travel products for Japanese people living in Ho Chi Minh. First, I was wondering why their selling target was a local Japanese, but I learned that there were about 10,000 Japanese people in Vietnam. That’s why they conduct business for Japanese people.

About my task, I mainly conducted a business assignment that I received from the company. The assignment was to make the travel booth of Bali. Bali is paid attention by Japanese people living in Ho Chi Minh City, and then, I made two sightseeing maps and a poster in which I suggested VR contents. I made the poster based on the advice from a designer. In addition, I made QR codes that linked with the HIS website of the Bali optional tour, and I put them on the maps. I also made a map for Mai Mai shuttle bus, which is a privilege that is only available to HIS customers. Moreover, I inspected Vietnamese temples and a Mangrove Tour, and I helped make a new Bangkok travel product, prepared for an event, and I made handouts for presentations which staff members used.

Participating in this program, I was able to learn the difficulty of working overseas and the possibility of tourism business in Ho Chi Minh City.

About the difficulty of working overseas, it was so hard to get use to using PCs and copy machines because the instructions were written in English. Also, it was hard to communicate with local staff. Because HIS is a Japanese travel agency, most of Vietnamese staff could speak Japanese fluently. However, they had different skills and levels of speaking Japanese so, when I talked to them in Japanese, I communicated with them while thinking how I should say or express and how I can tell them what I want to say. I have ever guided foreign tourists and have talked to foreign people in English so far, and I had thought that people speaking languages other than their own language only could feel language barrier. However, I realized that it was wrong. Whatever the native language was, I noticed that it was important to have a willingness to understand each other, though I have been worried about my English skill. I would like to make use of this experience when I study English.

As for the possibility of tourism business in Ho Chi Minh City, I learned that there were more than 10,000 Japanese people in Vietnam, and I thought that it made good sense that a Japanese travel agency sold overseas travel products for them. In addition, I felt that a role of Japanese travel agency was important. If there is one in Vietnam, Japanese people living in Vietnam can go to travel at ease.

Now, people increasingly arrange trips by themselves. When I thought about the meaning of travel agencies from now on, I felt that I could get a hint through this program. Hopefully, I would like to go to other Japanese travel agency’s overseas branch offices or local travel agencies in the other countries as an intern. I would like to find a future role as a travel agency, and I want to make use of the experience when I can get a job at a travel agency.

Here is a youtube link of our CEP in Vietnam! Please take a look!!