Report #2 on the Analysis of Thailand as a Country of Interest to Expand Marketing Efforts for Tourism to Hawaii

Terms of Reference I was asked by Mike McCartney, President and CEO, and Daniel Nahoopii, Tourism Research Director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority to submit this report on the possibility of increasing our marketing efforts in the country of Thailand. These increased marketing efforts would be to increase the flow of leisure travel of Thai people to Hawaii.

Population and GDP The current population of Thailand is 66.7 million people with 70% of the population aged between 15-64 years old. Thailand is the 20th largest country in the world measured in population. The population grows at an estimated rate of 0.566% per year. They have a nearly equal gendered society with there being 1.05 males per female ("East & southeast," 2011). The current GDP of Thailand is $8,700.00 per capita per the chart to the left, retrieved from www.indexmundi.com. The nominal Gross GDP estimate for the year 2010 is $580.3 billion, which ranks them as the 25th largest country in the world relative to GDP. The GDP is estimated to grow at a rate of 7.6% per year. Thailand has a labor force of 38.7 million people and an unemployment rate of 1.27%. The United States on the other hand has a labor force of 154 million people and an unemployment rate of 8.9% (US Bureau of). Their GDP is divided into three sectors, with 10.4% of it being in agriculture, 45.6% of it being industry, and the final 44% of it being in the service industry ("East & southeast," 2011).

Health Indicators Thailand is a humid climate that diseases love to fester in. The chance of catching a disease such a dengue fever, malaria or Japanese encephalitis is very high. The common food or
Rachele Wolfe 1|Page

waterborne disease is bacterial diarrhea and leptospirosis can be contracted from their water through contact with open cuts or sores. About 530,000 of the people living in Thailand are living with HIV and 28,000 people died from it in 2009 ("East & southeast," 2011).

The health indicators for Thailand are not nearly as different from the United States as I would have imagined. In some rural areas, the water, sanitation level, and hygiene conditions are quite poor which leads to lower HDIs (Why we work, 2010). As per the World Bank website, the infant mortality rate is about 12 deaths per 1,000 births. Per the chart above, also from the World Bank, the life expectancy is roughly 69 years and is comparable to the rest of the world. (The world bank, 2011).

Level of Income The GNI per capita in 2009 for Thailand according to World Bank was $3,760. This is the most current statistic that I was able to find online. This is based on an entire population average. In the entire list of countries in the world that had their GNI measured for 2009, Thailand was ranked 106th out of the 190 listed. The roundtrip cost of airfare for a trip to Hawaii from Thailand is roughly $1,000-$2,000 from priceline.com. Without including the cost of food, lodging, and transportation, Thai people are looking at almost an entire year of income for the average person just to get here. With the information provided, I think it would be highly unlikely that the average Thai person would be able to afford a trip to Hawaii.

Rachele Wolfe

2|Page

Trade and Foreign Investment Thailand is very open to trade and foreign investment. The trade with the United States for 2011 are as follows:

Trade with Thailand : 2011

NOTE: All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars on a nominal basis, not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. Month January 2011 TOTAL Exports 889.1 889.1 Imports 1,949.8 1,949.8 Balance -1,060.7 -1,060.7

This table shows that we are importing more from Thailand than they are exporting to us. Either way, it shows that there is substantial trade between the United States and Thailand upwards of 1.9 million dollars (FTD Webmaster, 2011). Thai government heavily supports foreign direct investment. They have used this as a means to promote economic development, and it has worked successfully for them over the last 15 years. It helped them move from an agriculture based economy to manufacturing and industry based. Foreign direct investment is promoted through the BOI, or Board of Investment. Through this, they also promote the investment of companies outside of Bangkok, to help strengthen the rural areas. Benefits are offered to outside investors in the form of tax incentives, non-tax privileges, and import tariff incentives ("Foreign investment," 2011). Implications Although the people of Thailand would enjoy Hawaii as a tourist destination, I dont see many Thais purchasing plane tickets. I think the concern of the population is survival. The majority of the community is rural, with a small portion of the population living in the city. Their economy is working towards industrialization but they are not there yet. They have been moving up in the global economy over the last 15 years and are continuing to do so. If we were considering marketing to Thailand in the future, I think we would have a market. Right now, spending the money to market to the less than 10% of the population that may be able to afford a trip to Hawaii just doesnt make sense.

Rachele Wolfe

3|Page

Bibliography

East & southeast asia- thailand. (2011, March 08). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.html Foreign investment. (2011, March 16). Retrieved from http://www.thailand.com/exports/html/country_finvest.htm FTD Webmaster. (2011, March 10). U.s. trade balance with thailand. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5490.html#questions Sever, P. (2008, July 14). Wheezy rider & thao. Retrieved from http://www.wheezyrider.com/2009/07/laos.html
Thailand gdp per capita. (2011, March 11). Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/thailand/gdp_per_capita_(ppp).html The world bank. (2011). Retrieved from

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN/countries/1W TH?display=graph
Us bureau of labor statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/

Why we work on the border. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.aqsolutions.org/?page_id=682

Rachele Wolfe

4|Page