Thailand is facing a shortage of workers in the tourism industry. According to the Bangkok Post, employment in the hospitality industry has recovered only a little over 70 percent from pre-Covid 2019 levels. Phuket has more than 17,000 vacancies for servicing visiting tourists: hotel employees, SPA masseurs, and staff of trade enterprises and catering establishments are needed.
The outflow of personnel occurred during the pandemic: many residents reoriented to work in agriculture, e-commerce, and other areas. They are not yet ready to return to tourism in conditions of limited service demand. The Thai authorities predict that next year they will be able to restore the incoming tourist flow to 25 million people (only 10 million tourists visited the country this year, in 2019 – 39 million), but this will happen only if coronavirus restrictions are lifted in China.
The expert said that about 10% of accommodation facilities could not open in Phuket due to a lack of staff by the beginning of the season. “Resorts experience the problem of shortage of personnel in different ways: if in areas located near the capital, it is quite easy to make up for it, then in the southern provinces and on the islands, things are much worse: it is far to get there and, in addition, visitors need housing. The management of one of Phuket’s five-star hotels, for example, is looking for 35 maids right now. We look at all this with great tension, although with the understanding that we are dealing with the consequences of force majeure. Sooner or later, the situation will improve, and traditional Thai hospitality, we hope, will compensate tourists for possible inconveniences,” he expressed his opinion.
Hoteliers get out of the situation in two ways: they promise employees higher salaries and hire young interns. “This is both good and bad: the industry is recovering faster, but the overall level of service is falling – this, by the way, is noted by those tourists who come to the island, not for the first time, which is significant. But in general, I would not call the situation critical – the same publication in the Bangkok Post, which is actively reprinted by the Thai media, will undoubtedly have a certain positive effect, ”the expert is sure.