THAILAND’s oldest travel agency is shedding about 80 per cent of its staff in an overhaul its general manager says is essential for survival.
World Travel Service (WTS) general manager Thongchai Phithakstrakul said the company would have about 100 employees, down from more than 500, when the restructure is complete. Most had already departed and branches have been closed in favour of local representatives.
The 69-year-old travel agency had been under pressure from the digital revolution. “It is very difficult for us to adjust ourselves. And since we have high headcount, we now have to trim them down,” said Thongchai.
The downsizing is the result of both manual jobs that have become obsolete and weaker demand as younger generations move away from using traditional travel agencies.
Thongchai said WTS will continue by relying on corporate clients and a small sales team to respond to online requests, but said the cuts were essential to ensuring the agency had a future.
“We’ll be more flexible and we can survive. I think we have come to the minimum already at 100. So we will survive at this level,” he said.
“We are changing from a conventional agency. Now we have to adapt to the new market, the new generation.”
Thongchai, a 50-year veteran of the company established in 1947, described the challenges as the biggest WTS had faced.
The payouts have also been expensive, with WTS compensating many employees who had worked for the company for decades.
“Most of them worked with the company for more than 20 years, so they got 100 per cent of their last salary multiplied by the years they worked. That’s a lot of money.”
