Thailand officials have announced an 18-month pilot programme that will enable tourists to convert crypto into local fiat –bahts, and pay to local businesses.
The initiative announced by Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira on Aug. 18 will test crypto-to-fiat conversion through Thai-based crypto exchange platforms for tourists visiting local attractions.
Labelled as TouristDigiPay, the project aims to help increase tourist spending as Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy faces a decline in foreign tourist arrivals.
The proposed scheme will act in the following way. Travelers use licensed Thai crypto exchanges that follow the SEC (Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission) rules to convert their cryptocurrency. The converted funds are moved into special digital wallets (not used directly as crypto) to be used for retail purchases. Merchants never receive crypto; they get paid in Thai baht directly and don’t need any additional payment hardware/software to handle such transactions.
Local authorities have also introduced a few safeguards into the system to prevent misuse and money laundering. Thus, each tourist can convert up to 550,000 baht (~$17k) during the pilot phase. The max cap can be reassessed after the 18-months period, if needed. There are also monthly spending limits and no option for direct cash withdrawals.
For further safety, both regulated crypto exchanges and e-money (wallet) providers must apply Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) checks to avoid financial risks.
Earlier this year, Mr. Chunhavajira said the government plans to start the pilot crypto payment project with Phuket, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, to later proceed to other locations. Whether the initiative outline remains the same was not publicly announced this time.
Supporting tourist spending by facilitating alternative payment methods becomes critical for the country in times when Thailand’s state-planning agency lowered its forecast for foreign tourist arrivals in the whole of 2025 by 10% to 33 million. Thailand received around 16.8 million visitors in the first half of 2025, compared with 17.7 million during the same period last year, reflecting a 24% decline in arrivals from East Asia and a 34% drop in tourists from China.
Besides the general economic slowdown that results in evolving travel preferences, tourist affection for Thailand has slightly faded due to higher airfares and rising costs, as well as infrastructure strains, political uncertainty, and safety concerns.
