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Thailand’s economy to expand by more than 3% in 2025, boosted by Chinese tourism

Thailand’s tourism-centric economy is expected to grow by more than 3 percent this year, according to statements by the nation’s Finance Minister.

This is anticipated to be particularly driven by increased foreign investor confidence in the nation, and “two to three large foreign investors coming in,” indicated Pichai Chunhavajira.

Overall incoming investment applications to the nation in 2025 are expected to reach some THB1 trillion ($29.7 billion), while the nation is also seeking to attract some 40 million visitors this year and THB3 trillion ($89 billion) in tourism revenue.

And as Thailand’s Entertainment Complex Business Act legislation progresses, hopes are that even more visitors and investors will be arriving to the nation’s shores, potentially boosting employment by up to 20,000 jobs per IR.

Thailand’s top visitor source market this year so far has been China – with about 22,000 daily arrivals. The nation now is hoping to attract some 9 million Chinese visitors in 2025 – up by 35 percent yearly.

One of the main periods for this visitation is Chinese New Year, starting January 29th and running for over two weeks.

According to the government, as cited by the Bangkok Post, expectations are for some 770,000 Chinese visitors during the period between January 24th and February 2nd – a yearly rise of 22.6 percent.

In contrast, Macau has been registered upwards of 130,000 daily visitors in the lead up to CNY – however the SAR has both legalized casino gambling and shares a border with China.

Given some of the negative feedback against the proposed new IR bill in Thailand, expectations are that operators will have a strong focus on attracting international clientele, rather than relying on Thai punters.

Macau is also trying to welcome more international punters, to reduce its dependency on Chinese gamblers.

With hopes that an IR housing a casino could open in Thailand as early as 2029, and with interest from major Macau gaming operators such as Galaxy, it will be interesting to see how companies aim to create synergy between a future property and their other regional casinos – especially at peak times such as Chinese New Year.

Kelsey Wilhelm
Kelsey Wilhelmhttps://agbrief.com
Kelsey Wilhelm is a broadcast, print journalist and editor based in Asia for over 15 years. Focused on content creation, management, cross-cultural exchange and interviews for multi-lingual productions. Writing focus on gaming, business, politics, culture and heritage, events and celebrities, subcultures, music, film, art and fashion. Some of Kelsey's specialties are: editing, writing, copy creation, multi-lingual content production, cross-cultural exchange, content creation and management for Asian markets.

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