The Development of a Tourism Specialist Program in Promoting the Efficiency of Tourism Personnel

Abstract

This article aims to affirm the tourism specialist program which synthesizes literature from both hard and soft sciences and integrate them into five aspects of knowledge namely: 1) science, 2) social sciences, humanities, and arts, 3) indigenous/local knowledge, 4) value-based knowledge, and 5) problem-centered knowledge. This has been previously presented in the article entitled "Integrated Knowledge in the Tourism System." The verification of this program has been used to design topics/contents for educational management/training courses and their impacts on the development of the tourism system in four core tourism industry sectors including hotel/accommodation businesses, (2) tour operation/guide and tour leader businesses, (3) food and beverage service businesses, and (4) souvenir businesses. Each of these sectors has employment or personnel statistics in the tourism sector for the year 2024, approximately 5 million people. However, model topics/course contents that are related to the two business sectors are not presented: logistics, which employs 14,620,000 people, and entertainment, sports, and recreation business, which employs 2,970,000 people. These sectors are operated by government agencies in collaboration with the private sectors under various laws. When combined, the total workforce is approximately 22 million people, distributed across various regions, which strengthens the Thai tourism system, both directly and indirectly. In addition to providing academic and professional training for tourism personnel, another important aspect is the development of good and great hospitality for all personnel to ensure business sustainability.