Govt agency plans training course to improve capabilities of tour guides
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THE Department of Tourism wants tour guides to improve their hospitality skills, especially those who serve visitors from emerging markets such as China and South Korea.
Wannasiri Morakul, acting director-general of the department, said training courses would be provided for guides to improve their hospitality skills.
She said tour guides who serve Chinese, Korean and non-English-speaking arrivals would be asked to join the training programme.
“We have no problem with the quantity of this resource, but we are now dealing with the quality of tour guides. This year we will try to enhance their weak points,” she said.
During the first five months of this year, more than 3.2 million Chinese tourists visited the country, an increase of 95.7 per cent from the same period last year. The number of Chinese visitors is expected to reach 6 million this year, making China the biggest source of international arrivals.
The department says that during the same period, despite an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea, 546,520 South Korean tourists travelled to Thailand, up by 16.8 per cent from the first five months of last year.
Wannasiri said the Association of Thai Travel Agents, the Thai-Chinese Tourism Business Association and the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand would help the department create useful training courses for tour guides.
The Tourism Department will provide six-month certificates to those who are trained as assistant tour guides. It anticipates that although Thais will continue to be preferred, more foreigners will be coming to Thailand to seek jobs in the tourism industry, including as assistant tour guides.
