BANGKOK, 11 July 2012 – The Labor Ministry has been assigned by the prime minister to spearhead the formulation of a plan to develop Thai labor.
Permanent Secretary to the Labor Ministry Somkiat Chayasriwong said that he has reported to the workshop to boost Thailand’s tourism revenue to 2 trillion baht by 2015, chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, that there are currently more than 6 million people in 22 professions involved in the tourism industry.
Mr. Somkiat said that the Ministry’s number contradicted the data earlier provided by the Tourism Council of Thailand, which suggested the number of around 4 million.
Therefore, the workshop has assigned the Labor Ministry and the Thai Tourism Council to jointly analyze the data and come up with the accurate number of tourism-related laborers.
At the meeting, the Labor Ministry has proposed a series of labor skill development plans to improve Thai labor’s language proficiency, work specialization and SME operational skills as well as work attitudes, for around 53,000 workers in 2013. The number is expected to rise by 5 percent a year in 2014 and 2015.
At the same time, the Tourism Council told the meeting that it needed to organize labor training sessions for 100,000-200,000 people working in the travel industry each year.
Therefore, the workshop has assigned the Labor Ministry and the Thai Tourism Council to collaborate in the preparation of a new labor development plan that takes into account both proposals. The detailed plan is expected to be concluded and ready for the next workshop in August.
