THE Tourism Council of Thailand is urging caution over the government’s lowering of educational standards for tour guides to cope with surging arrivals, which it says could cause long-term problems for the industry.
The concern followed tourism and sports minister Somsak Pureesrisak’s announcement last week that the minimum educational requirements for registered tour guides would be lowered from Grade 9 to Grade 4 for candidates proficient in Chinese, Russian or Korean. This was the second time in six months entry standards were lowered after the requirement for guides to be university educated was abandoned in February.
Surging tourist arrivals, which saw visitors from China double year-on-year between January and June (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 31, 2013), have strained the capacity of local tour guides. There is currently a shortage of foreign-language speaking guides for key source markets, including China (shortfall of 2,000), Russia (1,500) and South Korea (1,000), according to the Sports and Tourism Ministry.
However, the Tourism Council, which has yet to receive detailed information from the Ministry about the plans, is worried the initiative could erode overall standards and damage the industry’s credibility.
Said Apichart Patcharapinyopong, secretary of the Council: “Guides must have good knowledge and background (on Thailand’s history, culture and tourism). Lowering entry standards may solve the short-term problem (of a dearth of foreign-language speaking guides) but if the government is not careful it will create more problems than it solves in the long run.
“Even if they lower educational requirements, they mustn’t lower the standards. There has to be a mechanism for certifying guides.”
Apichart suggested that Thai schools could start offering a third language, while tourism jobs need to be made more attractive in terms of salary and prestige.
In addition, better professional language training akin to the English for MICE programme run by Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, which is also being expanded to cover Asian languages, should be developed.
“It should not just be a one-off course, there should be on-going development for people within the industry. The general public should be made aware of such courses and opportunities so they can continually enhance their skills,” he explained.
