“This is the issue that is the most worrisome,” Chen Namchaisiri, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said yesterday.

The FTI chairman was speaking at a seminar held by the Transport Commission Committee of the National Legislative Assembly to present its study on the Sa Kaeo SEZ, one of six SEZs designated by the government for promotion in the first phase.

Chen voiced doubts over the attractiveness of Sa Kaeo to draw in investment from manufacturers, reasoning that it might be more suitable for trading activities such as logistics.

“The point is if the [target] market [for prospective investors in Sa Kaeo] is Cambodia, if there is a conflict with Cambodia, we will face a direct impact.”

Investors “must bear in mind that this could happen and that you have a long enough ‘thread’ to go on, since it is difficult to send [your goods from Sa Kaeo] to other markets,” he said.

However, Verapong Chaiperm, governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, said the Sa Kaeo SEZ would aim to cater to not only the Cambodian market but also manufacturers through transhipment.

Manufacturers might like to extend their activities in neighbouring countries for further processing in Thailand and eventually shipment via Laem Chabang Port.

“Historically, industrial estates were built near gateways such as ports and airports. Today, economic corridors will woo estates,” he said.

CLMV markets

“With the growing customer base in the CLMV [Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam], whose economies are growing rapidly, there will be both cross-border and transhipment of goods,” he said.

The IEAT, which was slated to start building its 660-rai industrial estate at the Sa Kaeo SEZ late this year, had already received queries from investors for sites that almost filled up all of the available space.

“SCG Logistics will build the logistics park.

“This evening I will meet with PTTGC [PTT Global Chemical] executives,” he said.

Hiranya Sujinai, secretary-general of the Board of Investment, said a survey conducted by the BoI to gauge investor interest in the 10 planned SEZs, had found that Sa Kaeo attracted the second most interest from investors, following only Mae Sot.

Actual investment applications also follow this result.

Since last year, Sa Kaeo has lured three investment applications for projects worth Bt845 million, the second most among the 10 SEZs.

Mae Sot is the most popular with 22 applications for total investment of Bt3.81 billion.

“Sa Kaeo’s advantage is not only in relation to border trade but also because it is next to Prachin Buri, which houses automobile and electronics clusters.

“If we can draw in some labour-intensive parts production, IEAT’s 660 rai won’t be enough,” she said.

Based on a digital survey of 705 users of Android smartphones across the country, Nielsen aims to help advertisers, agencies, brands and related businesses understand how consumers engage with their devices and the opportunities this presents to mobile advertising.

In terms of mobile usage, communications – such as calling, chatting, e-mailing and messaging – took the lead with 78 minutes a day, followed by using other phone features and utility apps to improve their efficiency at 66 minutes a day.

They spend 42 minutes a day on entertainment such as playing games and watching multimedia.

Other mobile uses were managing devices and browsing for information.

When it came to the daily peak period of smartphone engagement, chatting was heaviest from 9-11am and 6-9pm.

Social media peaked at noon and again at 8-9pm.

“We believe that that the peak hours both for mobile chatting and social networking might be related to the working hours of the respondents. This insight could help guide advertisers and brands to plan a successful media-buying strategy,” she said.

Line was the most used app on smartphones at 60 minutes per day, followed by Facebook, Google Chrome, YouTube and Facebook Messenger.

Data consumption via smartphones also continues to grow via both Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

In the second quarter, data consumption surged 20 per cent to 689 megabytes a day from 575MB in the previous quarter.

This would be the right time for mobile-commerce businesses, particularly banking, financial services and insurance, payment services and shopping, Yuwadee said.

“We are undertaking reforms in the tourism sector. We are working on a new policy to be in line with the recently released national economic policy,” said Tint Thwin, director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

“Our focus is to create more jobs and generate more income for the nation while paying attention to environmental protection.”

On the sidelines of the “Myanmar Hospitality and Tourism Conference” on Tuesday, Tint Thwin said the ministry would encourage private-sector participation and engage more with other ministries.

Some of the priorities the ministry will undertake are promoting ecotourism and community-based tourism (CBT), increasing connectivity, finding new donors, engaging more with other ministries and private tourism organisations, improving transparency, and creating new destinations.

He said the ministry would improve the 22 existing ecotourism sites and 6 CBT areas this year. National parks will be established.

The ministry will try to get Bagan listed as a World Heritage site in cooperation with other departments and agencies. Maintaining the monument zones all over the country will also be on the ministry’s radar.

Tint Thwin underscored the importance of infrastructure development. He said the ministry had encouraged international airlines to open new routes to key destinations such as Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan.

Additionally, improving aviation capacity including airport infrastructure and increasing hotel rooms is on the agenda.

At present, 24 airlines land at Yangon International Airport and five at Mandalay International Airport. The new terminal at Yangon airport aims to encourage existing airlines to expand frequencies and attract more carriers to fly to Yangon. The plan to improve infrastructure at domestic airports has been taken into account.

However, the official admitted that the ministry needed to find more donors in this regard because the state budget allocation for tourism has not improved much this year. He appreciates the Asian Development Bank’s support for some tourism projects but stressed the need for more donors to makes sure all the targeted activities are undertaken successfully.

“We have no plans yet to increase the number of staff and offices in key destinations because of our budget. But we are trying our best to make sure all the visitors are satisfied and attract them to visit Myanmar again,” he said.

Tint Thwin said soft infrastructure was as important as hard infrastructure. He said Myanmar had received technical support from some European countries including Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Training has played a key role in producing a number of qualified workers for the much-needed hotel industry.

“We need a lot of capacity-building at all levels. We notice that services at most hotels have improved a lot thanks to the training. In the past, nearly 70 per cent of new hotel staff completed a training course before they started working. Now all the new staff need to complete basic training before they join their hotels,” he said.

Despite flooding, this year’s visitor-arrival target has been maintained at 5.5 million. Last year, Myanmar welcomed 4.68 million tourists, who spent more than US$2.12 billion (Bt74 billion). Tourism revenue has increased in each of the past five years: $254 million in 2010, $319 million in 2011, $534 million in 2012, $926 million in 2013 and $1.8 billion in 2014.

Tint Thwin also hinted that Myanmar might allow home stays for foreigners in the years to come. At present, doing this is troublesome as by law, the hosts have to submit information on visiting foreigners to regional authorities.

“We are considering that seriously. But any type of home stay will depend on two main things. First, residents should accept foreigners visiting their neighbourhood. Second, foreigners must respect the culture and tradition of the local community.

“We need to seek cooperation from other ministries to allow this kind of visit,” he said.

Wanida Wadeecharoen, head of research at the Centre for Business Research and Service, said yesterday that a study had found that only about 1-2 per cent of SML (Singaporean, Malaysian and Laotian) tourists had a perception of “Thainess”.

“On other hand, SML tourists still understand Thailand’s image as ‘The Land of Amazing’,” she said.

The centre conducted the Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology Poll on SMLs during Songkran and Labour Day this year.

They come to Thailand as a cheap destination, not as a “quality” place.

The poll shows that 35 per cent of Singaporeans and Malaysians are not confident in Thailand as a satisfactory destination, while more than 90 per cent of Laotian tourists are confident.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand should track this poll and revamp marketing communications and highlight Thainess to these particular SML tourists, Wanida said.

TNI Poll plans to conduct a similar survey on Japanese and Korean tourists this year and follow up with European markets afterward.

The Thai tourist industry has been suffering from the political turmoil that erupted in October 2013. The shutdown of Bangkok’s government offices in January 2014 by protesters prompted some tourists to avoid the Thai capital.

“The figures indicate that international tourists are not confident in Thailand’s political situation, causing cancellations,” she said.

Last year, TAT heavily promoted “Amazing Thailand: Discover Thainess 2015” to restore international tourists’ confidence and enhance Thailand’s image as a quality destination.

Exporters expect Thai rice shipments this year to total 9.5 million tonnes, maintaining the country’s status as the world’s largest rice exporter, slightly ahead of its major competitor India, which will export about 9 million tonnes.

Charoen Laothammatas, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said prices would fluctuate late this year and into 2017 since many rice-importing countries had lower demand, while the supply of rice is expected to rise significantly from the upcoming harvest season after the end of the drought.

The strengthening of the baht against the US dollar has pushed up the price of Thai rice, which will cause difficulty for exporters as the prices of many competitors decrease after the onset of more rainfall.

“With more rice but lower demand, fluctuating currencies and the baht’s appreciation, and high competition, the global rice market will enter a price war. Thailand, which is the world’s major rice supplier and holds high stocks, needs to manage its rice stocks carefully and stabilise the price to ensure export competitiveness,” Charoen said.

As Thailand enters the price war, Charoen expects its rice to become cheaper, while domestic rice prices will also fall because of lower demand.

Lower demand in many importing countries will continue to be affected by low oil prices, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, which are major import markets for Thai rice.

This year, the association expects Thailand to export about 9.5 million tonnes of rice worth about Bt4.4 billion, while next year export volume will drop to about 9 million tonnes.

Thailand could lose its position as the world’s rice-export champion in 2017, since India has a high supply of rice and could release more next year, the association says.

The US Department of Agriculture expects the global rice trade in 2017 to decrease by 2 per cent from 41.34 million tonnes to 40.51 million, while world rice output will increase by 2.3 per cent from 470.64 million tonnes to 481.23 million.

Demand for rice consumption in the global market is expected to increase slightly, by 0.4 per cent from 478.48 million tonnes to 480.63 million, while ending stock in the global is expected to rise from 106.7 million tonnes to 107.3 million tonnes.

In the first half of this year, Thailand shipped 4.99 million tonnes of rice worth US$2.2 billion (Bt76.7 billion), more than India, which exported 2.76 million tonnes.

However, as India has high stockpiles of rice, about 25 million tonnes, while its price is lower than Thailand’s, Charoen’s association is afraid that India could become the world’s largest rice exporter instead of Thailand next year.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said it was hard to predict whether Thailand or India would be the world’s largest rice exporter next year because of the uncertainties due to fluctuating prices and higher output.

He said that as Thai rice is about $50 a tonne more expensive than some of its rivals’, exporters could have difficulty competing.

Currently, Thai rice is trading at around $425 a tonne, while Vietnam’s is $375 a tonne for 5 per cent white rice. Thai parboiled rice is quoted at $440 a tonne, and Indian parboiled rice is $375 a tonne.

Moreover, as a larger supply of rice from the upcoming harvest season is expected, the association warns the government to create a benchmark price carefully from its project to clear out its rice stocks.

Charoen said the government could continue to release rice via auctions but it should not sell it for too low a price as that could affect the market price and hurt farmers.

“Many stations along the railroads have potential to develop commercially,” he said after meeting yesterday with Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith on drawing up a plan to make use of land along the rail lines.

The move is part of the government’s policy to drive the economy through investment along the East Economic Corridor.

The three other lines are Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima, Bangkok-Hua Hin and Bangkok-Chiang Mai.

The Transport Ministry would study the return on investment of each project and the number of stations with potential for commercial development.

“We expect the study’s results within two weeks before submitting it to the premier,” he said.

The Bangkok-Rayong high-speed railway project would be put on the agenda of the PPP (public private partnership) Policy Committee, he said.

“We know that what foreigners are watching is the investment in the Bangkok-Rayong high-speed railway, airport and seaport projects,” he said.

The faster these projects are materialised, the more economic growth will be driven.

Conceptually, the government would not only avail of the surrounding areas of the railway projects, but also other infrastructure projects. The land to be developed would not only belong to the government, but also the private sector.

After the Highways Depart-ment proposed some rest areas along the Bangkok-Rayong railroad, he asked the department to think more about them, developing them like the rest areas in Japan that are attractive to users.

At the rest areas, outstanding shops and restaurants should be found, not just fast-food courts.

The rest areas should be developed as part of the tourism corridor, not only the economic corridor.

There was much progress on the investment projects, especially the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed railway project.

The 253-kilometre Bangkok-Ratchasima railway is the first phase of the 873km Sino-Thai high-speed railway running from Bangkok to Nong Khai.

Arkhom said the Transport Ministry expects to propose two high-speed railway projects – Bangkok-Rayong and Bangkok-Hua Hin – to the PPP Committee for consideration this month at the earliest or later next month.

The aim is to seek participation from the private sector.

For the Bangkok-Rayong commercial development project, the ministry expects to open bidding by the end of this year.

In parallel, bidding on the construction and operation of the 193km Bangkok-Rayong and the 211km Bangkok-Hua Hin high-speed railway projects would be pushed to open this year.

The Bangkok-Rayong project was estimated at Bt95 billion and the Bangkok-Hua Hin project at Bt152 billion.

“Both railroads are waiting for the results of their environment impact assessment, expecting that they should be coming out this month before seeking approval from the Cabinet,” he said.

The areas surrounding the stations on the Bangkok-Rayong railroad could be developed into hotels and shopping centres.

The Bangkok-Nakhon Ratcha-sima railway project would be next for commercial development.

The Sara Buri, Pak Chong and Nakhon Ratchasima stations had high potential.