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Korean illegals upset tour guides in Phuket
Report from The Nation dated Monday 20 February 2006 :-
Korean illegals upset tour guides in Phuket
Tour guides in Phuket are fighting back against an influx of illegal Korean tour guides whom they claim are stealing their jobs.
Phanomphol Thammachartniyom, who heads the Phuket Association of Professional Tour Guides, said the Korean language-trained local staff were also desperately worried about the government’s policy to allow more foreign guides to work in Thailand.
Phanomphol said there were already a lot of foreign guides in Phuket and most were illegal. But they were taking jobs at tour companies from their countries.
“The biggest group of illegal guides is Korean. There are about 2,000 Korean guides in Phuket at present,” he said. Many had been arrested and deported but returned to Thailand with new names.
Phanomphol said the companies preferred Korean guides who had a better grasp of the Korean language than the Thai guides.
“There are 200 Thai guides who were trained last year for potential development in using the Korean language, but they do not have a chance to do their jobs. The tour agencies bring in Korean guides because they can control them,” Phanomphol said.
He said the tour guides association opposed a suggestion from the Tourism and Sports Ministry to import more foreign guides to service tourists in Thailand.
There are about 2,000 Thai guides speaking foreign languages registered in Phuket and another 1,000 people had come from other provinces to seek temporary jobs there, he said.
These Thai guides had faced a crisis in getting jobs after the tsunami hit the province, he added.
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