While Thailand’s hotel and tourism recovery is moving forward at a faster-than-expected pace,
the country’s acute hospitality staff shortage continues to worsen by the day. In what can best
be termed a ‘people business’, hotel owners and operators and wondering where have all the
people gone. It’s a worrisome trend and is only going to get worse as mass tourism returns.
Traditionally, Thailand’s hotel industry has seen an ever-growing population providing a steady
stream of new, young workers flooding into the sector. But now a perfect storm in a post-
COVID world where fresh school graduates are increasingly attracted to newer business sectors
and the impact of technology has pushed the service sector lower and lower in terms of career
preferences. The TikTok and Instagram generation often voices out that hospitality is just too
hands-on and time-consuming a…
