Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the tourism sector, especially hotels, still lacked skilled workers including at the housekeeping and management levels, such as marketing and cost-management experts, and many hotels were hiring foreigners to fill such positions.

Moreover, travel companies that serve non-English-speaking tourists such as those from China, Russia, Korea, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are facing the same problems.

“The shortage of labour is due to the rapid expansion of [the hotel sector] and fast growth of some markets like China. However, I believe that many new graduates likely did not intended to become labourers. Instead, they preferred to work with airlines or other service industries,” he said.

Thai Airways International is recruiting 565 new flight attendants to replace retired staff and serve future network expansion.

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the agency was recruiting 114 staff and subcontractors until July 25 to work at its headquarters in Bangkok and branches in the provinces.

Last year, Dusit International opened Dusit Thani Hotel School in Bangkok on Phetchaburi Road, with aims to produce up to 4,000 Asean-standard workers per year for the hotel and tourism industry.

Meanwhile, as it transforms into the digital era, the media and broadcasting industry require more specialists in this area to respond to the growing needs of brands and corporates in this dynamic market.

Jerome Hervio, managing director of Ipsos (Thailand) and the president of the Thailand Market Research Society, said the market-research industry needed advanced skill sets such as data analysis, Internet specialists and graphic designers who can translate sophisticated data into presentable and easily digested infographics.

To deal with this, the company utilises skilled talents across its global network as such specialists are quite limited in the Kingdom.

The advertising industry also needs such talents to deal with big data generated by online consumers.