Warning to tourism sector
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Unfriendly staff, poor services hit competitiveness: study
Hospitality firms and workers have been urged to develop their service skills and adopt a friendlier attitude to cope with the strong competition in Asean’s tourism industry, amid warnings that the country is in danger of losing ground to Malaysia and Singapore.
“Thailand needs to develop tourism services and improve hospitality so that the tourism industry can help increase the country’s income during the slowdown in exports and domestic growth,” Aat Pisanwanich, director of the Centre for International Trade Studies at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday.
The centre’s study shows that Asean countries, especially Malaysia and Singapore, have seriously improved their tourism and hospitality services to draw more visitors.
After the Asean Economic Community crystallises, Thailand could find it more difficult to compete because its tourism services have developed less than those in other countries in the region, as well as in Japan.
Foreign visitors are less satisfied than they once were with the “Siamese Smile”, as many Thais, particularly people working in service businesses, look displeased, according to the study. The Japanese are more favoured among travellers.
The service industry should urgently improve its services and the attitude of its employees or the country could see fewer visitors in the future, the study found.
Other issues that foreign visitors are worried about include political stability, travellers’ safety, integrated service facilities and Internet services. Cultural tourism should be promoted as foreign visitors appreciate Thai culture and tradition, the centre said.
The public and private sectors need to encourage their employees to develop language skills in English and other tongues, especially Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Asean languages, it said.
If Thailand could improve on these points, it could become the leading tourist destination in Asean by 2020, Aat said.
Thailand is expected to draw up to 34.5 million visitors a year by 2020. The tourism industry is expected to generate Bt1.65 trillion, or 11.3 per cent of gross domestic product.
Malaysia attracts the most foreign visitors in Asean at 25 million, followed by Thailand at 22 million, Singapore at 14 million, Indonesia at 8 million, Vietnam at 6.8 million, the Philippines at 4.4 million, Cambodia at 3.5 million, Laos at 3 million, Myanmar at 600,000 and Brunei at 250,000.
