Although Phuket, and Thailand on the whole, is one of the best holiday destinations in the world, we sometimes suffer from the lack of foreign language skills from the locals, especially when it comes to tour guides. Holidaymakers expect a certain level of hospitality when they shell out their hard-earned money for the holiday off a lifetime, it’s only natural.
So it was great news this week that the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is aiming to open language schools across the kingdom to not just touch up the English language skills of tour guides nationwide, but also in a third language such as Russian or Chinese. The Minister for Tourism and Sport, Somsak Pureesrisak said that some of Thailand’s major tourist destinations are in need of guides that can converse in other languages especially with the jump in tourism numbers from China and Russia over the past 5 years.
The courses will be offered for free initially, and TAT will survey each region across Thailand to find out which areas need the lessons most.
It’s a move in the right direction to improve hospitality across the tourism sector to ensure Thailand remains in the upper echelons of the world tourism market.
