With over 1 million South Koreans visiting Thailand last year, Korean-fluent tourism professionals are needed there more than ever. So, the ASEAN-Korea Center organized a nine-week Korean language training program in Thailand and Laos for tourism and hospitality industry personnel to take place in July and August.

The program provides lectures on basic-level Korean reading, writing, listening and speaking to participants from the Thai and Laotian tourism and hospitality industries. The lectures have been especially designed to familiarize the participants with practical expressions useful in their daily work, such as those commonly used at airports, hotels and tourist attractions.

It is the latest in a series of efforts to upgrade people-to-people exchanges between South Korea and Southeast Asian countries. More than 1.3 million South Koreans visited Thailand last year and over 300,000 Thais visited South Korea. Almost 80,000 Koreans visited Laos in 2013.

“It is anticipated that the coorganizing of the Korean Language Training Course Program with the tourism authorities of Thailand and Laos will contribute positively to the two countries’ promotional marketing activities that are targeted for Korean tourists and, hence, help further invigorate tourism with Korea,” an official from the center said.

The Korean-language program was launched in 2012 with the purpose of cultivating the language proficiency of tourism professionals in ASEAN countries. This year the program is being implemented in all 10 ASEAN member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ASEAN center set up the program in Thailand in cooperation with the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports; it started on July 2 and will continue until Aug. 20. The one in Laos was organized with the Laotian Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism; it began on July 4 and will continue until Aug. 18. Organizers said it would improve the travel experience of Korean tourists to those regions by facilitating better communication.

(ephilip2014@heraldcorp.com)