Situation

Thailand possesses rich cultural assets, strong creative identity, and global recognition in areas such as food, tourism, design, entertainment, and lifestyle. However, the current creative economy remains fragmented, under-commercialized, and insufficiently scaled, with limited ability to systematically convert cultural capital into sustained economic value.

The digital content industry—including film, music, gaming, animation, and online media—has shown growth, but still lacks ecosystem depth, global distribution capability, and investment scale compared to leading creative economies such as South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Most Thai creators and creative SMEs face constraints in funding, intellectual property (IP) protection, and access to international markets.

Additionally, Thailand’s soft power strategy remains opportunity-driven rather than system-driven, lacking coordinated policy, industry alignment, and long-term global positioning. As a result, cultural influence exists but is not fully translated into economic and strategic advantage.

Shift

The global economy is increasingly driven by a creative, experience-based, and attention-driven paradigm, where culture, storytelling, and digital content play a central role in value creation.

Key structural shifts include:

• From Cultural Assets → Commercialized IP & Global Franchises: Countries are monetizing culture through scalable IP (films, series, games, characters, brands).

• From Traditional Media → Digital Platforms & Creator Economy: Content distribution is shifting to global streaming, social media, and platform ecosystems.

• From Passive Consumption → Interactive & Immersive Experiences: Growth of gaming, virtual worlds, AR/VR, and experiential entertainment.

• From National Culture → Global Cultural Influence (Soft Power): Cultural exports shape global perception, tourism, and economic flows.

• From Fragmented Creativity → Integrated Creative Ecosystems: Successful countries build end-to-end ecosystems (talent, production, funding, distribution, IP protection).

In this context, creative economy is not just cultural—it is a strategic economic and geopolitical tool.

Advantage

Thailand holds strong inherent advantages in developing creative economy and soft power:

• Rich Cultural Identity: Unique heritage, cuisine, arts, and lifestyle with strong global appeal.

• Global Tourism Brand: Thailand is already a globally recognized destination, supporting cultural visibility.

• Creative Talent Base: Strong presence of designers, artists, content creators, and entertainers.

• Cost-Competitive Production Environment: Attractive location for film, media production, and creative industries.

• Growing Digital Content Consumption: High engagement in social media, video platforms, and online content.

Additional Structural Advantage

• Food as Soft Power Asset: Thai cuisine is globally recognized and can be scaled into branded global IP.

• Lifestyle & Wellness Integration: Synergy between creative industries, tourism, and wellness economy.

• Youth Demographics in Digital Space: Young population actively participating in creator economy and digital platforms.

• Regional Cultural Gateway: Ability to act as a bridge between ASEAN culture and global markets.

• Existing Creative Clusters: Emerging hubs in film, advertising, design, and entertainment sectors.

Implication

Failure to develop a structured creative economy will result in:

• Underutilization of cultural assets

• Loss of global cultural influence to more organized competitors

• Limited value capture from tourism and cultural industries

• Missed opportunities in high-growth digital content markets

Successful transformation will:

• Position Thailand as a global soft power and cultural influence hub

• Generate high-value industries through IP, content, and digital platforms

• Strengthen tourism, branding, and global perception of the country

• Create scalable export industries beyond traditional goods

• Empower creative talent and new-generation entrepreneurs

Action Layer