Thailand’s economy has suffered external shocks over the past two years, while also facing internal challenges, such as a rapidly ageing society, persistently high household debt and declining competitiveness in a fairly dynamic, fast-growing region.
While nowhere was spared from the Covid-19 pandemic, Thailand was perhaps affected more than its peers thanks to an over-reliance on foreign tourism, which accounted for about 12% of gross domestic product (GDP), or $62bn in revenue, in 2019. Thanks to Covid-related travel restrictions and lockdowns, Thailand’s GDP contracted by 6.2% in 2020. It inched back up by 1.6% in 2021 when a mere 430,000 international tourists visited — a stark drop from the 40 million in 2019. Until tourism gets up to speed, Thailand will have trouble balancing its books.
