(VOVworld)- Tourism doesn’t have to mean simply touring beautiful landscapes, hiking up mountains, and eating local cuisines. IT can also mean connecting and sharing. Team building tourism, a modern type of tourism, is becoming popular in many places including Vietnam.

Team building programs, often organized outdoors, offer participants a chance to learn as a team. Through games, challenging situations, and organized questions, participants learn practical lessons while working with one another as a team to achieve a common goal. Team building programs also let participants explore new places and deal with life values that have been ignored due to their busy lifestyles. Tran Le Bao Chau,Director of Nam Quoc Tourism Company, which specializes in team building tourism says : "Our programs are designed around customers’ needs. We discuss with our customers what they need and what they want to achieve. We want to make our customers feel energized when they go back to work and more interactive. This is what we have aimed for in the last three years of developing our team building programs".

Team building programs should be creative and innovative. Most providers of team building programs are from the south and their customers are foreign companies, corporations and schools. "Ideas and designs are the key factors of team building programs. It’s important to convey the message of the company through games. For example, one company is facing financial difficulties and they want their staff to be strong to overcome these difficulties, so the games are designed to allow the staff to challenge themselves and become more resolute. We design different games for different companies. It’s not an easy job", said Mr. Chau.

Team building programs are not just adventure tours. Through trips and supplementary activities, lessons are learned and messages are conveyed. Each team building program differs in the number, age and profession of participants as well as the message conveyed. These programs connect people in a team and develop teamwork skills. "Team building programs have diverse themes including sharing and unity. The programs are very exciting and appeal a lot of young people. 60% of our customers select team building programs for their companies", said Cam Tu, from Canh Chim Bien tourism company.

These programs force everyone in the team to act, play and think together. It’s an opportunity for the leaders to evaluate their staff’s individual strengths and weaknesses, but above all, a team building program is the easiest way to link individuals into a unified bloc.

Lan Anh