Households View that Phase 1 of “Chim Shop Chai” Program Helps Reduce Cost of Living, but More Assistance Measures Needed (Business Brief No.3824)

​   The Cabinet, September 10, 2019, approved the 1,000-Baht cash handout as part of the government's “Chim Shop Chai (Taste Shop Use)" program to stimulate domestic tourism, effective September 27 - November 30, 2019. Currently, a large number of people has begun to spend the cash giveaway in provinces where they signed up to the program. KResearch has conducted a survey on spending behavior of Thai households that have registered with phase 1 of the “Chim Shop Chai" program and the findings are as follows:

• More than one-third of Thai households intend to spend more than THB1,000. The poll shows that 54.7 percent of the households surveyed intend to spend the 1,000-Baht cash handout while 43.0 percent intend to spend more than THB1,000 at THB3,300/person on average.
• Households with income less than THB30,000/month plan to spend the cash giveaway on essential consumer goods at shopping malls. They will likely spend an exact amount of the cash handout. Households with income more than THB30,000/month intend to spend the cash handout on dining at restaurants participating in the “Chim Shop Chai" program. A majority of such households will likely spend more than THB1,000.
• Registration to take part in the “Chim Shop Chai" program is too complicated and privileges offered are limited. The survey shows that only 2.7 percent of the low-income households polled have successfully signed up to the program because some of them still use non-smartphones. However, those using smartphones were unable to make the registration because they do not use the internet service.
• Although 78.3 percent of the households surveyed view that phase 1 of the “Chim Shop Chai" program helps reduce their cost of living, a majority of them wants the government to introduce additional assistance measures. The poll shows that one-third of the respondents want the government to reduce the cost of living by lowering prices of essential consumer products and subsidizing utility and energy prices, as well as public transport fares.

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