Preparedness of SMEs towards AEC : A Case Study of Travel Agents in Bangkok

This paper is a survey research conducted with the main purpose of developing preparedness guidelines toward the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in travel agent businesses of Bangkok, Thailand.The primary data was collected from a sample of 30 travel agents, whom were selected by convenience sampling. In-depth interview and a structured questionnaire were used as the tools in collecting data. A qualitative approach, as well as descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage, was adopted when analyzing the data,.The content of the research covered business function (management and human resources, finance, marketing, and production) of travel agents in Bangkok. Besides, the perception and preparedness of travel agents towards AEC were also studied.The research results showed that most of the respondents had relative high perception towards the AEC that will be implemented toward the end of 2015. They realized that there are both positive and negative impacts of the AEC and, thus, have adopted several strategies in order to cope with the AEC. These strategies were to conduct research on demand of customers, to recruit highly qualified employees who have the ability of speaking multiple languages, to adjust the payment or welfare systems, to develop training programs concentrating on industry standards and language training, to develop new tourist programs, and to revise tour fees regularly.