Thailand offers Incentives to attract world-class events; expands PCB manufacturing incentives

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has approved incentives to encourage investment in organizing world-class events in Thailand, such as large international concerts, sporting activities, and festivals.

The aim of the incentives is to support the Thai government’s vision to boost Thailand’s status as a tourism hub and aid the recovery of the tourism and entertainment sectors following the COVID-19 crisis. Tourism accounts for around 20% of the kingdom’s GDP.

Organizers of large international events that require an investment, or expenses, of not less than Baht 100 million (USD2.8 million), will be granted an import duty exemption on equipment and will receive assistance to facilitate the temporary entry into the country of foreign staff. The organizer will need to prove their ownership of the rights to organize the project or event. Conferences or trade shows are not eligible for these incentives.

Support to the PCB supply chain

To further promote foreign investment in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCB) and to cover the entire supply chain, the BOI has approved a modification of the definition of PCB businesses to include the following activities:

• manufacturers of parts and providers of related services such as lamination, drilling, plating, routing, and electrical testing, etc.
• producers of PCB parts such as copper clad laminate, flexible copper clad laminate and prepreg
• producers of raw materials such as dry film, transfer film, and back up board.

Tax exemptions offered to PCB businesses include import duty exemption on raw materials used for production and export, and corporate income tax exemption for up to 8 years based on business type and machinery investment size.