Tourism, Thailand's mainstay, is gradually picking up with the easing of restrictions to woo back foreign travelers. In the first five months of 2022, the country attracted 1.3 million visitors, although that is still a fraction of the 40 million annual visitors it drew before the pandemic. Amid a sluggish economic recovery, the benchmark SET Index declined just over 3% since we last measured fortunes with the baht down by 12%. The combined wealth of the 50 richest fell by nearly 6% to $151 billion from a year ago.
The top three richest remain unchanged from last year. The Chearavanont brothers, whose Charoen Pokphand group's telecom arm True is awaiting regulatory approval to conclude a merger with rival Digital Total Access Communications (DTAC), remain at number one. But their wealth is down $3.7 billion, the biggest decline in dollar terms, to $26.5 billion.
As energy drink Red Bull's sales continued to surge around the world, Chalerm Yoovidhya's fortune, which he shares with family, got a $1.9 billion boost. With a net worth of $26.4 billion, Chalerm is now a close number two.
Only a dozen members of the list saw their wealth rise, including energy tycoon Sarath Ratanavadi, who's benefited from his foray into telecoms and moved up one spot to No. 4. He was this year's biggest dollar gainer with his wealth increasing by $2.2 billion to $11.1 billion. Sarath is proceeding apace with diversification and has inked an agreement between Gulf Energy Development, mobile operator Advanced Info Service and Singtel to set up data centers in Thailand.
There are three newcomers this year and the richest among them with a fortune of $835 million is Adisak Sukumvitaya, founder and CEO of Jay Mart, which was recently included in the SET50 Index along with its debt collection arm JMT Network Services. Rising shares of Com7, one of Thailand's biggest distributors of Apple products, added two new names to the list. U.S.-educated Sura Khanittaweekul, the company's CEO and cofounder, makes his debut. So does doctor and value investor Pongsak Thammathataree, who runs a chain of beauty clinics and has a minority stake in Com7.
The three returnees include Gunkul Dhumrongpiyawut, founder of SET-listed Gunkul Engineering, who returns to the ranks after a four-year hiatus. The renewable energy company's new business is in cannabis, which was recently legalized for medical and industrial use in Thailand. The other two returnees are telecom tycoons DTAC's Boonchai Bencharongkul and Pete Bodharamik of Jasmine International.
Despite the cutoff declining to $655 million from $737 million last year, six people dropped out, including father and son Somwang and Viyavood Sincharoenkul. Shares of their Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) fell amid reduced demand for rubber gloves as the pandemic waned.
