Tourism is one of Thailand’s main industries that has generated income for a large number of people. About 20 percent of Thailand’s GDP comes from tourism businesses, and about 15 percent of domestic employment is in the tourism sector (World Tourism and Travel Council 2014). Tourism and service businesses are the sectors that have a high female employment rate since skills and personality linked to femininity, such as tenderness, care, good human relations, and friendliness, are needed (McDowell 2009, Pritchard et al. 2007, Sunanta 2020).

For this reason, tourism businesses are considered an opportunity for women’s employment and economic freedom, in which women can serve as both workers and entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, especially in medium-scale and small-scale businesses (Tucker & Boobana 2012, Trupp & Sunanta 2017). These businesses provide a higher income when compared to those of other sectors, such as the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. However, jobs in the tourism sector have relatively low security since businesses in the tourism industry have a high rate of informal employment, in which informal workers are not protected in terms of income and welfare according to the labor protection law. In this low-paying sector, there is a high rate of female employment. Moreover, a number of women are unpaid workers in the family business in tourism.

In 2020, Thailand’s tourism sector encountered its worst crisis due to the outbreak of COVID-19 that forced international travel and tourism to shut down. From the end of 2021 to today, tourism entrepreneurs have adapted to survive this long-lasting crisis. Many businesses shut down temporarily or permanently, resulting in workers’ lower income or job loss. The impact on the tourism sector has affected the entire Thai economy as it is highly dependent on tourism businesses. The Coronavirus crisis has revealed the vulnerabilities of employment in the tourism sector that existed even before the pandemic and highlighted the problem to be seen more clearly and intensely. Hence, the study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic also aims to analyze and address these vulnerabilities in the tourism economy.