How Thailand Is Moving Toward a Digital-First Economy

According to Wikipedia, Digital economy refers to an economy that is based on digital computing technologies, although we increasingly perceive this as conducting business through markets based on the internet and the World Wide Web. The digital economy is also sometimes called the Internet Economy, New Economy, or Web Economy.

India has made waves since the government decided to remove about 86% of the country’s currency notes by value from circulation in 2016. There are other countries embracing the digital economy and Thailand is not being left behind.

Thailand is significantly developing and the country is ready to make the leap to a digital-first economy. The government in Thailand knows that supporting a new online economy starts with building a solid technological infrastructure, and in recent years, Thailand has invested millions of dollars in making internet accessible (Thailand Board of Investment, 2017, June 21). It is thus not surprising that co-working already is a popular concept in Thailand (Surachet Kongcheep, 2016, June 8).

The Co-working space started to pick up in Bangkok in 2012. From that year on, the number of nomadic workers in Thailand is increasing every year. Today, Bangkok is home to a vibrant co-working scene, which provides nomadic travellers with both a community of like-minded individuals and cost-efficient office space to get their business off the ground (Thailand Board of Investment, 2017, June 21). Since 2012, funding for the co-working environment has increased by more than 120 percent with the goal of accelerating growth in areas like e-payments, e-commerce, digital advertising, and media.

Alternative working space solutions have been growing in popularity in the country and co-working spaces are in favour among a wide variety of individuals looking for a workplace that is more formal than the home environment, but more informal than traditional offices (Surachet Kongcheep, 2016, June 8). The popularity of co-working spaces has spread from Bangkok to other provinces and tourist destinations around Thailand, however, the most popular “digital nomad hubs” in Thailand are Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

It is expected that the co-working space business in Thailand will continue to grow and, as mentioned by Surachet Kongcheep (2016, June 8) the spaces themselves are also maturing. Co-working proprietors are increasingly trying to offer more services than just a work spot. Operators are attempting to create a space that becomes not only a work place, but also a place to share ideas and find inspiration, by adding activities, such as seminars, and setting up business matching programmes and so on.

The economic growth is expected to rise more than 4 per cent and to steadily continue to rise. It is also expected that the digital economy will rise to 61 per cent by the year 2022. This means that the people of Thailand will enjoy a lot positive changes in their economy. Hope this will improve their livelihoods and their children will benefit in the future from this venture. The government will also gain by partnering with other governments and creating many more opportunities.