High salaries draw Thai massage therapists to the Middle East
Thai massage therapists are currently in high demand at hotels and spas in the Middle East, with operators willing to pay five times the salary they can earn in Thailand, an industry expert said.
“As wellness tourism is booming in the Middle East after the Covid lockdown was lifted, tourism operators in countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia are in need of massage and spa therapists from Thailand,” said Krip Rojanastien, chairman and CEO of Chiva-Som International Health Resort.
“These skilled workers usually earn around 30,000 baht per month in Thailand, but in the Middle East they can expect to be paid from 120,000 to 160,000 baht. The highest pay I saw offered was 200,000 baht per month,” he said.
In Saudi Arabia, where large tourism projects are being developed, therapists from Thailand are the most sought-after and the best-paid compared to workers from other countries, he added.
Krip said the new government must take this chance to further develop its relationship with Middle Eastern countries to promote mutual tourism, as well as provide training support for massage therapists to prevent any shortage of skilled labour.
He said the Thai private sector is also seeking government support for establishing a skill development centre for tourism workers, to provide standardized training in general hospitality as well as in-depth instruction in more sophisticated subjects such as massage and health tourism.
“Wellness tourism will be one of the dominant trends in the next 5-10 years, as many countries including Thailand are becoming ageing societies. We need to prepare for the increasing demand for personnel in this sector,” he said.
Meanwhile, Krod Rojanastien, advisor to Chiva-Som's CEO, proposed an amendment to the law on the careers foreigners are prohibited from doing in Thailand that would give massage therapists a temporary exemption so that foreigners can be trained during any labour shortage.
“Currently there are about 200,000 registered massage therapists in Thailand, working in about 10,000 establishments throughout the country,” he said. “We can increase these numbers by allowing foreigners to become therapists, boosting the overall wellness tourism industry.
“Furthermore, with the addition of English language teaching to the courses, Thailand can become a hub for massage therapist training in the region,” he added.
