News & Update

Being the largest island in Thailand, Phuket enjoys both the consistent flow of tourists and foreign investors, owing to the fact that Phuket is ideally situated for both ventures. The bullish economy had encouraged more foreign investors setting up their business operations in Phuket, Thailand as evidenced by the increasing activities of accounting service Phuket companies that are helpful in making foreign investors understand the legal and financial requirements of foreign business operations in Thailand.

Thailand’s economy has always been based on decentralized free enterprise. Thailand has excellent infrastructure system across the country. Power, telephone and internet services allow for uninterrupted business operations not just in Phuket, but all over the country. Even after the 1997 financial crisis and the 2011 devastating floods, Thailand has successfully risen to the challenge and managed to bounce back amidst region-wide economic downturn. It is currently enjoying a GNP of 4% to 5% annually. Financial advisory Phuket are optimistic that this will continue to improve in 2013 and thereafter.

While there are some key restrictions to foreign investors such as owning companies and property under their names, there are various ways to work around the restrictive laws. As such, these issues have not been considered as major barriers to most foreigners who have legitimate business to do in Thailand. With proper advice from reliable tax planning Phuket consultants and accounting service Phuket companies, a foreign-owned business will be able to enjoy BOI-mandated privileges as tax incentives and holidays according to the requirements of Thailand’s Foreign Business Act.

In the first half of 2012, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Thailand increased 62% from Baht 206.2 billion to Baht 332.2 billion from a year ago. A majority of the FDI came from Japan, putting Japan’s current investment in Thai economy at Baht 210.8 billion (or US$6.8 billion), making Japan the largest foreign investor in Thailand.

Industries of Phuket

Fortunately for Thailand, it has a strong FDI base which is driving the economy upwards. In terms of local industries, Thailand may be suffering from some major setbacks, especially for some of the major industries of Phuket:

• Tourism. In the past decade, the tourism industry has become the biggest earner for Phuket and it is continuously growing to date. One of the biggest issues now is how to retain the benefits of tourism while sustaining the natural attractions that brought the visitors in Phuket in the first place. Phuket now gets more than 3 million visitors every year, and this number is increasing. Phuket is a very popular holiday destination for both Asians and Westerners and the economy had tremendously benefited from this industry.
• Rubber. One can still see some rubber plantations in Phuket. However, soaring real estate values and the tourism boom may prompt land owners to turn their lands into other profitable ventures.
• Tin. Phuket is abundantly rich in tin. At present, the demand for tin is down and dredging of tin in offshore waters has been restrained in the past few years by zoning regulations designed to help protect the coral reefs and beaches of the west coast. Where there are old tin-mine workings on land, real estate developers are converting such unsightly scars in the landscape to beautiful resort hotel projects, yacht marinas, golf courses and bungee-jumping facilities.
• Coconuts, Pineapples, Bananas, Cashews. While agriculture is still an important part of Phuket’s economy, current trends are seeing more farming land and rice paddies being given up to make way for housing projects, roads, and other infrastructure development projects.
• Fishing. Fishing is an important livelihood for the people living along the coast. But small-scale fisheries are being hurt by legal and illegal modern trawling. Large-scale fisheries, meanwhile, are threatened with the depletion of commercial fish stocks from excessive fishing activities.