Bangkok Pull Factors

[Varinia Swicegood]

Migrantsin South-eastern Asia have suffered disproportionately from COVID-19, often due to inadequate and cramped living conditions. In Singapore, for example, as of mid-February 2021 more than 90 per cent of the total 59,800 cases were migrant workers housed in dormitories (Singapore Ministry of Health, 2021), a trend to which the government reacted with movement restrictions for foreign workers (Singapore Ministry of Health, 2021). Other countries imposed restrictions for their own workforce, for example, the Philippines banned overseas travel for Filipino nurses and medical workers for several months (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 2020).

While all migrants suffer from the health risks, insecurity, lockdowns, declining work conditions and economic downturn related to COVID-19, the consequences for asylum seekers and refugees are particularly dire. Due to the pandemic, asylum systems in several countries were scaled down and are currently only partially operational or not at all, as in the case of Cambodia. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam have refused asylum seekers access to their territories (UNHCR, 2021), which led to hundreds of Rohingya refugees being stuck on boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (UNHCR, 2020a).

Decolonisation and the consolidation of the national independence of South-east Asian states after the Second World War went hand in hand with restrictive immigration policies, which led to a temporary reduction of labour migration. At the same time, the establishment of Malaysia triggered an exodus of around 270,000 persons from Peninsular Malaysia, about half of whom moved to Singapore (UN DESA, 2003).

In the 1960s, the Viet Nam War brought thousands of Korean and Filipino labourers to the region, as construction and service workers for US military installations in former South Viet Nam, Guam and Thailand. This decade also saw the development of permanent long-distance migration towards Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America, a trend which grew over time and continues today.

Labour migration, of high importance for the region, is driven by rural poverty and differences in wages and economic opportunities in the sub-region (UNESCO, 2016); existing social networks in host countries work as pull-factors, together with a well-established migration industry, comprising migration agents, recruiters, travel providers, immigration officials, etc. (GCIM, 2005). Within South-eastern Asia, the predominant countries of destination for domestic workers are Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia; the main countries of origin are Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Viet Nam (UNESCO, 2016).

While men tend to dominate rural-rural and seasonal migration, as well as sectors such as construction, agriculture, heavy manufacturing, fishing, and taxi/motor-taxi driving, the majority of rural-urban and long-term migrants are women, employed for instance as domestic workers, childminders, nurses and doctors, in garment manufacturing and in the sex and entertainment industries (ILO, 2018).

Several countries in the sub-region have an above-average percentage of women among their emigrating nationals: Thailand is in the lead with 61 per cent, followed by Malaysia (56.7 per cent) and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (55.9 per cent). In absolute numbers, the Philippines leads with more than 3 million female migrants, Indonesia has about 2 million and Viet Nam 1.7 million (UN DESA, 2020). Many originate from poor rural areas and migrate for economic reasons, but also for other opportunities such as access to education. Escaping patriarchal control and gendered expectations about female roles can also be relevant (IOM, 2020).

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the return of hundreds of thousands of migrants to their countries of origin. The return of more than 300,000 Filipino migrants, for example, reduced remittances to the Philippines by approximately 5 per cent to 33.3 billion USD in 2020. The whole sub-region suffered an even steeper decline of more than 8 per cent, with remittances dropping from about 76.9 billion USD in 2019 to an estimated 70.4 billion USD in 2020 (World Bank, 2020).

Statistics and databases are only as good and accurate as the data they rely on. In the case of South-eastern Asia, accurate analysis and the comparison of data sets from different countries is difficult, due to several systemic weaknesses:

- COMMIT Process - the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking - a high-level policy dialogue in the Greater-Mekong sub-region, focused on combatting human trafficking, migrant smuggling and forced labour through information exchange, coordination and joint activities. Its members are Cambodia, China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.

- Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime - a regional forum for policy dialogue, information sharing and practical cooperation, bringing together 49 member states and organisations, including the whole region of South-eastern Asia. It addresses practical issues related to smuggling, trafficking and related transnational crime, including information exchange, intelligence and best practices, law enforcement cooperation, protection and asylum issues, as well as awareness raising.

- Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) - officially the Ministerial Consultation on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour for Countries of Origin and Destination in Asia, is a voluntary and non-binding inter-government consultative process on labour migration. It includes seven countries of destination and 11 countries of origin, the latter including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The countries of South-eastern Asia have concluded numerous bilateral agreements on migration within and beyond the sub-region, frequently with a focus on labour migration. Here the Philippines are in the lead, with 13 agreements, followed by Malaysia, which has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, Viet Nam and Indonesia, regulating recruitment processes and procedures. Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam all have MoUs with the Republic of Korea, to facilitate the hiring of foreign workers.

2005 Graeme, Hugo: Migration in the Asia-Pacific region. A paper prepared for the Policy Analysis and Research Programme of the Global Commission on International Migration. GCIM, Adelaide, September 2005.

The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations or the International Organization for Migration (IOM). (More)

This study aims to examine the causal factors of customer motivation, trust and loyalty, influencing the level of repurchase intentions of local tourists travelling during pandemic COVID-19 crisis in Thailand.

The population of this study comprised all Thai local tourists travelling in Thailand. Using simple random sampling of local tourists on travel in Thailand, quantitative data were collected from 500 tourists as the sampling, representing Northern Thailand, North-Eastern Thailand, Central Thailand, Southern Thailand and Bangkok. Path analysis, including correlation matrix and factor confirmation, was used to test the causal factors influencing the level of repurchase intentions.

Motivation trust, customer trust, customer loyalty and repurchase intentions of Thai domestic tourism were on a high level. In addition, there were positive influences of customer motivation, trust and loyalty on the level of repurchase intentions by local tourists travelling in Thailand.

The study results demonstrate that the social exchange theory can be used to explain the influences of customer motivation, customer trust and loyalty on repurchase intentions of domestic Thai tourism.

Therefore, the concepts of motivation, trust, loyalty and repurchase intention can all be applied to local tourists' repurchase intention in Thailand, allowing local tourism businesses to generate sales by building customer motivation, trust and loyalty. These concepts are mutually related, and the social exchange theory can explain how local tourism businesses can motivate local tourists and build on the trust and loyalty. The social exchange theory is employed as the underlying theoretical framework for explaining causal relationships of these factors. Therefore, the social exchange theory is used to explain customer repurchase intentions when they reward businesses from their motivation, trust and loyalty in this study.

To respond to the questions posed above, this study aimed to (1) investigate the level of customer motivation, trust, loyalty and repurchase intentions of local tourists travelling in Thailand; (2) examine the causal factors of customer motivation, trust and loyalty influencing the level of repurchase intentions of local tourists travelling in Thailand.

This study offers another perspective to the crisis management by examining the causal factors of local tourists repurchase intentions, among those who travel in the country during the crisis, contributing to the literature on emerging economies. The study examines the relationships of customer motivation, trust, loyalty and repurchase intentions during the pandemic crisis. The social exchange theory is empirically tested for explanation of causal factors in different contexts. In addition, this study also assesses the government policies and campaigns in healing and supporting the tourism industry in Thailand during the pandemic crisis. The tourism-related local businesses are engaged in transportation, travel, food and beverage, souvenirs and local products, accommodation and other related businesses. These businesses are included in this study, and the findings can support improving their business strategies.

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