THE POTENTIAL OF THAI TOURIST GUIDE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

As Thailand has joined the ASEAN Economic Community, such action affects tourism industry and tourist guides. In the future, tourists will be more diverse in culture, ethnicity, and tourism pattern. This projection seems to imply that the tourist guide is a required career in the hospitality and tourism industry. The obvious problems are that Thai tourist guides lack language skills, and there are not enough Thai tourists to cope with the large numbers of tourists visiting Thailand. The lack of language skills is one factor that obstructs Thai tourist guides from becoming the tourist guide with potential. The objective of this article is to present the potential of Thai tourist guide in the 21st century. The contents for presentation are as follows: the background and objectives of Thai tourist guide, the importance of tourist guide for tourists, causes of tourist guide requirement for hospitality and tourism industry, required qualifications of tourist guide, good characteristics in the tourist guide career in the 21st century, ethics of tourist guide in the 21st century, roles of tourist guide in the 21st century, and guidelines for adaptability of tourist guide in the 21st century. In addition, in the 21st century, tourist guide must have various skills such as fluency of the other alternative language besides Thai and English, profound knowledge in all fields including arts, music, culture, and traditions. Tourist guides also have to equip themselves with knowledge on new tourist routes and tourist attractions in order to increase their knowledge in description and presentation of tourist information. They also need to have skills in using modern technology for providing their services more efficiently in order to cope with the changing world contexts. Therefore, in order to prevent Thailand from losing the opportunity to earn more income for the country, Thai tourist guides should be developed to be enthusiastic in exploring new knowledge and developing their potential in necessary skills, and always to be up to date to cope with current changes.