Business News
Stay abreast of the ever-changing Business News in Thailand through our comprehensive coverage of local and international business events, market trends, and economic updates. We provide reliable analysis, in-depth features, and expert insights on the most relevant business stories, including issues affecting Thailand’s stock market, foreign investment, and entrepreneurship. Track the business world’s pulse as we inform you of crucial developments shaping Thailand’s economic landscape.
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Sponsored Top 10 reasons for expats to get a comprehensive health insurance in Thailand
Moving to Thailand offers plenty of excitement and adventure, but the local healthcare system can be complex to navigate as an expat. From unique health risks to high costs at private hospitals, having a comprehensive health insurance plan is essential....
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The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO
https://youtu.be/HKKIuWHw_t8 “The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.” India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take…
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Domestic air passenger numbers double those of January
Passenger numbers on domestic flights within Thailand have doubled within a month, rising from 4,000 in January to over 10,000 this month. Having nearly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, domestic travel plummeted once more when Covid-19 resurfaced late last year. Apirat Chaiwongnoi from the Department of Airports says 15 of Thailand’s 29 airports are now operating domestic flights, with more expected…
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Samut Sakhon’s shrimp market to remain closed until February 15
Samut Sakhon’s Central Shrimp Market, the epicentre of Thailand’s recent wave of Covid-19, will remain closed until February 15. The market can reopen once the overall hygiene situation at the market and surrounding area has improved, according to the province’s disease control committee. Local officials say the shrimp market needs to remain closed until the market structure and nearby residential…
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Legalisation of hemp cultivation is expected to boost stocks
Thailand’s recent legalisation of hemp cultivation is expected to boost stock prices in related sectors. Market analysts at KTBST Securities Research say plantation and refinery businesses are likely to be the first to to receive licenses to grow hemp or produce extracts, and those businesses should expect an uptick in stock prices. Market analysts add that businesses that plan to…
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Lights, camera, Covid – Tourism Ministry wants film crews to come to Thailand now
Without much luck with their ‘cunning ideas’ to draw back a few of the remaining world’s travellers, Thailand’s tourism officials are turning to the film industry to attract some people and investment. The Tourism and Sports Ministry is aiming to generate around 3 billion baht from foreign film crews and is targeting film projects with an investment over 100 million baht.…
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UPDATE: Thailand Covid zones and your restrictions
Which of the five coloured zones are you living in? A green zone? Red zone? Pale red zone? hat’s the difference and what’s open and what’s not? If you’re not in Samut Sakhon, the coastal province just south west of Bangkok, then some of the restrictions imposed by the CCSA have recently been lifted. Here’s a quick look at what’s…
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Pattaya Beach, fly over the pristine but horrifyingly empty beaches | VIDEO
The Thailand Discovery YouTube channel has captured an empty Pattaya beach front for the first month of 2021. The first month of any year would usually be one of the busiest months of the year and the beaches should be heaving with tourists in the post Christmas/New Year break and the lead up to the Chinese New Year travel burst.…
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Re-openings and easing of restrictions in Chon Buri, effective Monday, February 1
Re-open for business, sort of. Chon Buri province’s PR department has released its latest list of orders which will come into force on Monday. It follows the CCSA changing the Chon Buri provinces Red Zone classification into an Orange Zone. More about the latest provincial zones and restrictions HERE. The hard-hit bar and entertainment scene in Pattaya will be breathing…
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Taxis and tuk tuks ask Thai government for help
Unions of Thai Taxi workers and Thai automobile drivers have handed over an official request to a government labour committee to file a request to the government seeking financial support. Thai Taxi workers passed over their requests to Suthep Yoo-on, the chairman of the Labour Committee officially seeking industry support. Just about all sectors of the country’s transport infrastructure have…
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Scrub away Pattaya’s restrictions with a Walking Street wash-a-thon
Without much other good news on the horizon, Pattaya officials have celebrated almost two weeks of no new Covid-19 infections with a celebratory ‘wash down’ of Walking Street. The ritual ‘wetting’, in the Songkran tradition, was seen as a new beginning, washing away the bad spirits and the bad times that had fallen on the once-busy red light district. Sonthaya…
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Phuket eases restrictions, bars back to late-night hours
Things are getting back to normal in Phuket. The provincial government eased disease control restrictions, allowing restaurants, bars and entertainment venues to go back to their normal operating hours – no more midnight closure order – and lifting the late-night alcohol ban. While bars can now stay open late and serve alcohol after midnight, dancing is prohibited and venues cannot…
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Massage workers in Pattaya call for reopening of spas and massages shops
A group of about 50 workers from Pattaya massage shops and spas gathered together to call for the reopening of their businesses after being closed for the past month due to Covid-19 restrictions. The group called themselves the “Pattaya Health Massage” presented a letter signed by 60 massage shops, spas and gyms to Bang Lamung District Sheriff this morning. Chon…
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Chatuchak market is in worst crisis in 5 decades due to Covid-19, vendors say
Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok’s biggest market and a popular tourist destination, is hit hard by the new wave of Covid-19. With the lack of foreign tourists due to travel restrictions over the past year, as well as more locals staying at home despite the market’s strict disease control measures, the number of visitors at the market has dropped by 90%.…
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Eating out until 11pm in Bangkok is waiting for approval
Bangkok restaurants may soon be allowed to stay open a little later. Health officials are considering easing up Covid-19 prevention measures by extending restaurant dine-in closing times to 11pm. If the proposal by the Thai Restaurant Association is given a green light, it may lead to the lifting ban of alcohol drinking. After the order of shutting entertainment venues and…
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34.7% of Thai tourist businesses closed down
“When the tourists start coming back it will be a very different holiday experience for them. Will it ever get back to the numbers before Covid? Never.” A Tourism Authority of Thailand survey, conducted between January 10 – 12, indicates that more than a third of the country’s tourism-related businesses has already shut up shop and gone out of business.…
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Government is to allow people to use “legal” parts of cannabis in business
With intentions to promote cannabis as the country’s potential new cash crop, the government is preparing guideline to allow people to produce, sell or own cannabis and hemp. The permitted businesses, including textile, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics will be able to register to receive FDA permissions from January 29. According to the FDA secretary-general, leaves, stalks, stems, roots, flowers, and seeds…
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US jobs market stumbles back into decline
The labour market for the world’s largest economy is heading back into reverse mode after slowly chugging back into gear over the past 8 months, following the March stock crash and initial impacts of the US state lockdown measures.. The December report was the first drop since April figures, providing the strongest evidence of the impact of the huge number…
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Covid-19 could cost an estimated 9 billion baht loss to the economy – Thai alcohol association
An alcohol business association is saying the latest round of restrictions and closures on pubs and bars could cost the industry and businesses 9 billion baht. The Thai Alcohol Beverage Business Association is railing against the Thai government’s policies as they restrict the operations and operating hours of tens of thousands of bars, pubs and clubs around the country. They…
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Thai Air Asia says new Covid outbreak has destroyed business
The executive chairman of Asia Aviation, the largest shareholder in Thai Air Asia, says the Covid-19 resurgence has “destroyed the low-cost carrier”. Tassapon Bijleveld says that, even without a national lockdown, bookings have plummeted. “Travel sentiment has plunged lower than last year. This is different this time because people are voluntarily skipping their travel plans even without a nationwide lockdown…
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Thai Airways delays take off in 2021 | VIDEO
Due to the current outbreak of Covid-19, Thai Airways, Thailand’s flagship airline, is reducing its international flight schedule until at least March 27. A limited schedule of domestic flights are still operating as normal under the airline’s domestic carrier Thai Smile. Thai Airways will reduce international flights to the following destinations: Asia •Hong Kong: One daily return flight – TG638/TG639…
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Thai Restaurant Association asks PM not to restrict in-dining services
As the 4 day New Year long weekend comes to a close, there are a number of proposed restrictions looming as the CCSA battles to contain the latest outbreaks of cases, particularly in and around Bangkok and the nearby easter provinces. There is currently a proposal to restrict Bangkok’s restaurants to take away services only, as well as full travel…
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What’s closed in Bangkok? Decision on restaurants today.
Here’s the full list of closures from the BMA that went into effect at midnight last night in the city of Bangkok. The Bangkok Metropolitan Organisation has closed “high risk’ venues around Bangkok.(Pattaya/Banglamung list of restrictions and closures below) Entertainment venues, water parks, amusement parks, playgrounds, floating markets, flea markets, snooker and billiards clubs, arcade game premises, games shops, Internet…
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The case for temporarily closing hotel and restaurant operations
OPINION by Bill Barnett As the final days of disruptive 2020 come screeching to an erratic end, hotel, and restaurant owners are peering into an unpredictable year ahead. Here in Thailand over the past week, the tourism industry has been shaken to its core over an uptick in Covid-19 cases and backroom speculation over fears of another round of lockdowns. (Restrictions,…
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Thai government plans to amend business, immigration rules, for foreign investors
Foreign investors in Thailand have long decried the onerous, complex, and sometimes downright baffling, bureaucracy that comes with doing business in the Land of Smiles. And it appears officials in Bangkok are finally sitting up and taking notice. Nation Thailand reports that, in an effort to stimulate the ailing economy, the government plans to make some changes to the regulations…
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Bangkok’s commercial property market struggles through 2020
This year Thailand’s developers had to work around the effects of government lockdowns and restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed significant changes have occurred to the commercial property market in Thailand. CBRE Research reports that the Bangkok office market suffered a significant change in the net up-take, whilst the retail market consumer confidence index fell and the hotel market…
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Monopoly comes to Phuket, but don’t Go To Jail!
You may not be able to physically visit the world famous holiday island right now, but you can buy and trade property along it’s best known streets – all whilst sitting at home and playing Phuket Monopoly with your family. You can also get “free parking”, usually at a premium in Phuket’s most popular towns. But make sure you don’t…
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How to buy gold in Thailand – from bracelets to baht
Jett Gunther visits Bangkok’s Chinatown and discusses why you should buy gold in Thailand, and how. Bangkok is home to one of the largest Chinatowns in the world, and the Chinese love gold! Not only is gold highly regarded as a sacred metal, gold has held its value for thousands of years! In the past 20 years alone, the price…
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Starting a Business In Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is potentially one of the most exciting places to begin a business, due to its young population, wide variety of skills sets within that population, such as those learned on an online MBA degree, as well as how quickly various economies within the region are growing. Places like Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are becoming not just Asian, but…
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Thai Airways to resume flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Phuket
After nearly 9 months on the ground due to the coronavirus pandemic, along with problems balancing their accounts, Thai Airways will resume flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai as well as Bangkok and Phuket later this month. The flights will start back up on Christmas day. Flights from Bangkok to the 2 key tourist provinces have been grounded since April…
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Bangkok is the best leisure city in the Asia Pacific – Business Traveller Asia-Pacific
Despite few travellers actually being able to visit Thailand’s capital, including ‘business travellers, readers of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific have again named Bangkok the ‘Best Leisure City in the Asia-Pacific’. The Big Mango retains the top ranking on the list for the 5th consecutive year. Bangkok also got third place in the ranking of the Best Business city in the Asia.…
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