A STUDY ON CHINESE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF TOURISM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND’S : CASE STUDY AS TOURIST INFORMATION COUNTER AT SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT

Abstract

Chinese language is said to be another language that has recently taken a prominent role in Thai society influencing numerous areas, such as trade and investment, tourism industry, and etc., rendering the increasing demand for Chinese language educated personnel. As a result of the basic ‘law of supply and demand’, the market for Chinese education has rapidly expanded and skyrocketed while raising concerns and questions on the quality level and the language proficiency of graduates. Quality control is essential to provide and to support high service to meet customer needs. Tourism Authority of Thailand, as a frontier in welcoming foreign guests, has caught the wave and established the tourist information counter in Suvarnabhumi Airport to support a great number of tourists, especially Chinese tourists. Thus, the author was keen to study the Chinese language proficiency of the personnel providing their services at the information counter. The main objectives of this research paper are to study the usage of Chinese language of the personnel providing services, and to study the demand and the level of satisfaction of Chinese tourists receiving services. Qualitative research, through direct interview, observation, and survey of the target group, was selected as a prime method and apparatus to gather and summon information for this research paper. The collected information was, subsequently, used for SWOT analysis for assessing the Chinese language proficiency of personnel in providing their services in order to acknowledge the problems and obstacles arisen, and be able to further furnish relevant resolutions. The sample groups employed for the research were the head of information service sector, Chinese language of the personnel of the information counter, and Chinese tourists. The findings of the research portrayed the attitude of Chinese tourists toward the quality of the provided services in terms of the capacity of and information given by related personnel, in which the result depicted a good level of satisfaction of services received. Lastly, the researcher concluded and rendered suggestions to enhance the performance and efficiency of the organization on their services and number of personnel in accordance with the amount of Chinese tourists expected in the future.