Joint Project: Informal Workers in Thailand

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In our Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) in Thailand and Myanmar that we conducted in 2019, informal workers were found to be among the most vulnerable stakeholders in tourism.
With COVID-19 their situation got even more dramatic. Informal tourism workers have been severely impacted by the global pandemic and are often excluded from industry discussions and recovery benefits.

To address this issue, we decided to collaborate with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to directly uplift this sector within Bangkok, Thailand by hiring unemployed tour guides to deliver community-based training to fellow souvenir sellers, tuktuk drivers, artisans, and more. The aim is to improve operating procedures, meet safety standards, redevelop community-based tourism products, and meet customer needs once international tourism reopens. 

This project builds upon PATA's earlier research, which found that 86% of this group have fallen into extreme hardship.

Click here to learn more about this project.