Phuket’s tour guide shortage addressed at seminar

PHUKET CITY: A seminar on the shortage of tour guides in Phuket attracted some 150 tourism industry employees to the Royal Phuket City Hotel on February 23.

The seminar was chaired by Thanitta Maneechote, Director-General of the Office of Tourism Development, part of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

“We have held this seminar three times before – in Bangkok, Songkhla, and Chiang Mai – and now here in Phuket, in order to support the tourism industry,” she said. “The seminar’s objective is to share and understand problems and exchange ideas and solutions.

“More than ever before, we recognize and are responding to the importance of promoting foreign language skills. The Office of Tourism Development has been offering Korean language training at basic, intermediate and advanced levels to tour guides in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

“We also plan to provide courses in Swedish and other relevant languages for Phuket guides.”

The Office of Tourism Development organized the event with the cooperation of Phanompol Thammachatniyom, Director of the Phuket Professional Guide Association.

K. Thanitta added, “Part of our mandate is to promote development in tsunami-affected areas. To this end, we will set up 20 modern, clean public toilets in various places in the Andaman coast region. Three of these will be located in Phuket: at Saphan Hin, at Patong Beach and at Kamala Beach.”