Thailand’s economy has been suff ering under the hardships resulting from COVID-19 and the countrywide lockdown that came into eff ect mid-March. Tourism arrivals in March were down 76.4% from the previous year, whilst exports also saw a contraction of 2.2%, the eff ects of this were sweeping layoff s and leave without pay, which has hit hospitality particularly hard, and may result in up to 6 million people becoming unemployed.

Thailand’s government has approved a stimulus budget of USD59 billion in total to help relieve the stress on individuals and businesses, measures include tax reliefs, soft loans and an unemployment budget. From March 22nd, as a measure of social distancing, all shopping centres and retail outlets were closed; through this period landlords were giving rental discounts and accepting delayed payments in order to share the burden with the closed retail. 

A partial reopening was permitted from May 17th, allowing stores and restaurants to reopen though they must follow the government’s hygiene requirements. he reopening appeared to have been successful with large numbers of local  customers observed in most of Bangkok’s major outlets.