Army conscripts considered for filling Phuket labour void

Mr Boonchob revealed the alternative strategy at a meeting with the Thai Hotels Association (THA), the Tourism Council of Phuket, the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) and the Thai Spa Association on Wednesday (Jan 18) to discuss the labour shortage throughout the combined industries. 

Concerns were raised about the capacity to serve customers during the Chinese New Year holidays, reports state news agency NNT.

Efforts will be increased to secure more workers from within provinces most heavily affected first, while efforts were heightened to lure more workers from Thailand’s Northeast, Mr Boonchob said.

“The tourism and service sector is facing a labour shortage. We have coordinated with relevant agencies to organise job markets to meet workers in the tourist provinces in order to attract workers from provinces across the country to meet the demand for labour,” he said.

Mr Boonchob noted that the Ministry of Labour had conducted a recent survey of the demand for workers in key tourist areas.

“It was found that there were about 10,000 people in demand, most of them in Phuket, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Chiang Mai, Phang Nga and Chonburi, especially in the hotel business,” he said.

The demand for staff was wide ranging, he noted, citing receptionists, wait staff, cleaning staff, general office staff, accounting and various administrative staff as examples where many vacancies remained.

However, Mr Boonchob said great progress had been made in the past month in resolving the labour shortage crisis.

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew revealed on Dec 8 that more than 17,000 job vacancies in Phuket were waiting to be filled at more than 1,400 businesses on the island.

On Wednesday, Mr Boonchob reported that the top five provinces where workers in the tourism sector were in high demand were Phuket (3,648 workers in demand), Chiang Mai (858), Chon Buri (594), Phang Nga (410) and Surat Thani (349).

Regardless, a dire labour shortage remained in the Thai massage industry, he said.

“There is a shortage of thousands of massage workers in the spa industry,” Mr Boonchob said.

“The Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Labour therefore will work together to arrange for business operators to meet Thai massage workers who have already completed the appropriate training,” he said.