Poor language skills holding back Thailand's Chinese tourism
IN RECENT years, national tourism officials, hotel general managers and restaurant service staff throughout Asia have become increasingly aware of the growing numbers of Chinese tourists visiting their countries.
According to the World Tourism Organisation, Chinese tourists made a staggering 109 million trips abroad last year. Although tourist numbers to Thailand fell in 2014, the number of Chinese tourists arriving is expected to increase to 7.4 million this year, contributing US$5.6 billion (nearly Bt205 billion) to state coffers. This increase will offset the expected decline in European tourists, and provide a welcome boost to Thailand’s struggling economy.
While there are obvious advantages to this influx of Chinese tourists, it also brings certain challenges that the Land of Smiles needs to address if this success is to be sustained.
On the front line are Thailand’s hotels, and so the ability of hotel employees to communicate effectively with their Chinese guests is vital if they are to provide a high level of service.
In a survey conducted by Skift, a provider of travel-industry intelligence, 54 per cent of Chinese travellers identified the presence of in-house Mandarin-speaking staff as “most important” when rating a hotel. It is not possible to separate service from language; therefore good Mandarin proficiency is a must for employees catering to Chinese guests.
Some hotels understand this, and the smart ones are introducing measures to improve the overall experience of Chinese guests. The Pullman Bangkok Hotel G, for example, has hired Mandarin-speaking “welcomers” to its front-office team, assisting guests as they arrive and depart, ensuring this process goes smoothly. The hotel has also translated its entire room directory into Chinese, and is hiring Mandarin-speaking call-centre agents, guaranteeing a Mandarin speaker at any time of the day or night.
Yet despite this need for Mandarin language skills among service staff, there are two problems that many Thai hotels face: poor Mandarin proficiency among the workforce, and ineffective traditional methods of language training.
Mandarin is not a widely spoken language in Thailand, and as such local proficiency in the language among locals is poor, and many hotels employ long and expensive classroom-based methods of tuition that are proving increasingly ineffective for young Thai hotel employees.
Thai hoteliers need to wake up to the power of mobile if they want to benefit fully from the Chinese tourism boom. Thailand’s smartphone penetration is expected to exceed 50 per cent of the population by the end of this year, with the strongest growth among younger Thais, who make up many hotels’ workforce, so mobile learning should be the natural choice to improve Mandarin language proficiency.
Lessons that are accessed via a smartphone or tablet can take place any time, anywhere. Progress can be tracked by training managers, and advanced tone and speech-recognition software allows constant feedback for users – vital for a “tone heavy” language such as Mandarin.
With tourism making up 10 per cent of Thailand’s gross domestic product, this new era of Chinese travel can bring massive rewards to all parts of Thailand. Technology has the power to match high-level communication skills to Thailand’s already high service and hospitality standards.
Phat Thai and tom yam soup taste good in any language, but making it easier for Chinese tourists to experience such delicacies will improve appetites, and hotel’s bottom lines.
David Topolewski is chief execu-tive officer of Qooco, a provider of mobile |language learning and vocational training solutions for employees in the hospitality and service industries.
