Thailand

The 26.7m international arrivals in 2013 represented a 20% rise on 2012. China was the top source of visitors with a 6.9% increase to 4.7m. Next came Malaysia (2.99m), Russia (1.73m), Japan (1.53m), South Korea (1.29m), Laos (1.1m) and India (1.04m). The Tourism Authority of Thailand set 28.01m visitors as the goal for 2014. The Tourism Council of Thailand is more optimistic, forecasting 29.92m...

With the country continuing its telecoms development, Thailand’s internet connectivity is about to improve exponentially. Wireless speeds are on their way up and wireless access is expanding rapidly. In 2001 the passing of the Telecommunications Business Act established three types of licenses: one for internet service providers without a network, one for those with infrastructure, and one for...

Even though the minimum wage has gone up and there is no shortage of work, the construction sector in Thailand is facing a serious dearth of labourers. As developments in neighbouring countries have increased employment opportunities there and the minimum wage has risen across Thailand, companies have faced difficulties in finding workers for building sites. However, despite some setbacks...

The Thai government is planning to build four high-speed rail lines linking Bangkok with the northern city of Chiang Mai, the Laotian border, the industrialised eastern seaboard and Malaysia, effectively joining all corners of the country. Thailand’s infrastructure plan aims to reduce the ratio of logistics costs to GDP by 2% from its current 15.2%, increase the speed of non-high-speed trains and...

On the economic road from farms to factories to services, Thailand has come a long way. Through a combination of low costs, sound policy, a good work ethic and a relative lack of labour activism, the country has managed to make the transition from an economy based on agriculture and commodities to become one of the most industry-oriented nations in the world. Manufacturing makes up 34% of the...

With the market capitalisation of its bourse at around BT11.97trn ($391.42bn) as of late March 2014, Thailand has relatively deep and liquid capital markets by regional standards. A derivatives market has grown significantly since 2007, with particular interest in index and single stock futures, as well as gold futures. Following the Asian financial crisis, brokers in Thailand have remained more...