I was recently invited by the Professional Tourist Guide Association of Thailand, along with the Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand to lecture on the topic of, “Prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Globalization: Know Thyself, Know Thine Enemy.” The purpose of the lecture was to prepare the tourism and tourist guide sectors in Thailand for the AEC and globalized world.
In this, the first of two articles, I would like to share my opinions given on that day, firstly to consider the effect of the AEC and globalization on Thai tourism, and in a second article, to discuss how to prepare tourist guides for the AEC.