Tourism personnel to be trained to meet Asean standards
The Tourism Ministry and the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) have joined forces with partners in related field to provide training for tourism personnel to meet the standards jointly set by Asean.
Nida’s Graduate School of Tourism Management (GSTM), Dusit Thani College, and the Tourism Department jointly hosted the opening ceremony for the launch of the training on September 30 at the Crown Princess Building in the Nida compound.
A seminar was held as part of the event to discuss the benefits of training personnel to meet the Asean Mutual Recognition on Tourism Professionals (MRA on TP).
In his opening speech, Assoc Prof Dr Prapon Sahapattana, vice-rector of Nida, who chaired the opening ceremony, said Nida’s Graduate School of Tourism Management has a mission to prepare Thailand’s tourism personnel for Asean tourism businesses. The courses would also increase Thailand’s tourism competitiveness, Prapon said.
The Tourism Department under the Tourism and Sports Ministry aims to train tourism personnel in 32 positions from 13 fields to meet the standards.
Pattanasiri Salayasiri Iewtoksan, director of the department’s tourism standards development for tourism personnel division, told the seminar that it was important to increase the quality of Thai tourism personnel to meet the Asean standards.
Dr Atthawet Prougestaporn, vice-rector of Dusit College, said the three partners have been developing courses in this field since 2008, with the development completed this year.
The training will be divided into three main courses, namely Common Asean Tourism Curriculum (CATC), ASEAN Common Competency Standards Framework for Tourism Professionals (ACCSTP) and Competency Unit Descriptors (242 units).
The trained personnel will be capable of working in accordance with the Competency Based Curriculum (CCC), Atthawet added.
Assoc Prof Dr Paithoon Monpanthong, dean of the GSTM, said Nida would join the development of personnel under the MRA on TP roadmap by sending its lecturers to become national trainers for the courses and work as national and master assessors of the trainees.
He said training would be provided in cooperation from other educational institutes, government agencies, private firms and tourism professional groups.
As part of the MRA on TP roadmap, the GSTM this year opened a Travel Services department to train general managers and assistant general managers in tour operations.
