Soft Power & THACCA StrategyGold report

Published May 2026Insight Research25 min read2024-202715 sources, 11 primary-gradeVery high source depth

Thailand Soft Power & THACCA Strategy 2027 Market Intelligence

THACCA (Thailand Creative Culture Agency) coordinates the 11-industry soft-power agenda from the PM's office, with the One Family One Soft Power (OFOS) programme targeting 20 million Thais trained by 2027 against a THB 5-10B annual envelope. Report benchmarks the design against Korea KOCCA and UK British Council, and sets out the 2027 measurement framework.

Key takeaways

1
THACCA (Thailand Creative Culture Agency) was unveiled in 2024 under the Prime Minister's Office as the central coordinator for Thailand's 11-industry soft-power agenda — food, film, music, festival, fashion, tourism, fight (Muay Thai), book, design, art, and game.
2
The One Family One Soft Power (OFOS) workforce upskilling programme targets training 20 million Thais by 2027 — roughly one trained worker per Thai household — across creative, culinary, and culture-export skills.
3
Annual soft-power budget envelope sits in the range across MoC, MoCulture, MoTourism and Sports, MFA, and PM's office contributions. Modest compared with Korea's KOCCA but unprecedented for Thailand.
4
Comparators: Korea KOCCA (broadcast, film, music, animation, comics, games; multi-billion USD annual budget) is the explicit reference. UK British Council (cultural relations, language, education) is the second template; THACCA hybridises both.
5
2027 measurement triangle: a soft-power index reading (Brand Finance or in-house equivalent), a tourism multiplier (visitors influenced by Thai content), and cultural-export USD value (food, film, gaming, design, fashion, festival licensing).
6
Our read: the THACCA Act, OFOS execution, and the FY2026 budget concretion are the gating signals through to 2027. Thai BL drama, Muay Thai franchising, and Songkran festival export are the highest-conviction commercial channels.

Executive summary

Thailand's soft-power agenda moved from speech topic to institutional architecture in 2024 when the Pheu Thai-led government unveiled THACCA (Thailand Creative Culture Agency) under the Prime Minister's Office. THACCA is designed as the central coordinator for an 11-industry agenda spanning food, film, music, festival, fashion, tourism, fight (Muay Thai), book, design, art, and game. The agency is the operational home for the Soft Power Strategic Committee's annual plan, with content funds, festival programming, and international co-production support as its first-wave instruments.^{[, ]}

The flagship workforce programme is One Family One Soft Power (OFOS), targeting training of 20 million Thais by 2027 — roughly one trained worker per household — in creative, culinary, and culture-export skills delivered through community learning centres, vocational institutes, and online platforms. Annual budget envelope across the relevant ministries (MoC, MoCulture, MoTourism and Sports, MFA, PM's office) is in the band per FY2025 and FY2026 Budget Bureau filings, modest by Korean standards but unprecedented for Thailand.^{[, ]}

The explicit comparators are Korea KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency) and the UK British Council. KOCCA's broadcast, film, music, animation, comics, and game scope plus its multi-billion-USD budget supplies the operational template for THACCA's content-funding side. The British Council's cultural-relations, language, and creative-industry export work supplies the diplomatic-soft-power template that the MFA's cultural-diplomacy unit and TAT's gastronomy-festival programming sit alongside. THACCA hybridises both, with the added Thai dimensions of Muay Thai franchising and Songkran festival export.^{[, ]}

THACCA briefings, Budget Bureau, KOCCA, British Council

Data as of: FY2024-2026

Soft-power budget envelope (THB billion, FY2024-FY2027)

FY2024

Envelope (THB B)

~3.5

Context

Pre-THACCA baseline; pilot OFOS funding via existing ministries.

FY2025

Envelope (THB B)

~5.5

Context

THACCA launch year; first dedicated content funds; OFOS scaling.

FY2026

Envelope (THB B)

~7.2

Context

Mid-cycle envelope; FY2026 budget bills include explicit soft-power lines.

FY2027

Envelope (THB B)

~8.5 (target)

Context

Soft Power Strategy target year; OFOS 20M trainees milestone.

Fiscal year	Envelope (THB B)	Context
FY2024	~3.5	Pre-THACCA baseline; pilot OFOS funding via existing ministries.
FY2025	~5.5	THACCA launch year; first dedicated content funds; OFOS scaling.
FY2026	~7.2	Mid-cycle envelope; FY2026 budget bills include explicit soft-power lines.
FY2027	~8.5 (target)	Soft Power Strategy target year; OFOS 20M trainees milestone.

Budget Bureau filings, Bangkok Post triangulation, OFOS briefings

Data as of: FY2024-2027 projected

11 soft-power industries — relative weighting in the THACCA framing (% indicative)

Food (Tom Yum, Pad Thai, Thai food abroad)

Indicative weight %

22%

Notes

Largest export footprint already; gastronomy-tourism halo effect.

Tourism (Songkran, cultural tourism, gastronomy)

Indicative weight %

18%

Notes

TAT-led; soft power as visitor-arrival multiplier.

Film and TV (BL drama, features, festival)

Indicative weight %

14%

Notes

Thailand Film Council under THACCA; streamer MoUs.

Festival (Songkran, Loy Krathong export)

Indicative weight %

10%

Notes

Songkran UNESCO ICH 2023; festival licensing pipeline.

Fashion (Thai textile, designer, OTOP)

Indicative weight %

Notes

Thai textile heritage, designer pipelines, OTOP.

Music (mor lam, Thai pop, BL OSTs)

Indicative weight %

Notes

BL drama OSTs travel with content; mor lam Isan.

Fight (Muay Thai gyms, IFMA path)

Indicative weight %

Notes

Muay Thai global gym franchise; IFMA Olympic-recognition path.

Design (CEA hubs, design weeks)

Indicative weight %

Notes

TCDC, Bangkok and Chiang Mai Design Weeks, Isan Creative Festival.

Game (Thai indie studios, e-sports)

Indicative weight %

Notes

Smallest absolute base; BOI digital-content incentives.

Book (publishing, translation grants)

Indicative weight %

Notes

Translation grant pipeline; Bangkok Book Fair.

Art (BACC, galleries, biennale)

Indicative weight %

Notes

BACC, Bangkok Art Biennale, Thailand Biennale touring.

Industry	Indicative weight %	Notes
Food (Tom Yum, Pad Thai, Thai food abroad)	22%	Largest export footprint already; gastronomy-tourism halo effect.
Tourism (Songkran, cultural tourism, gastronomy)	18%	TAT-led; soft power as visitor-arrival multiplier.
Film and TV (BL drama, features, festival)	14%	Thailand Film Council under THACCA; streamer MoUs.
Festival (Songkran, Loy Krathong export)	10%	Songkran UNESCO ICH 2023; festival licensing pipeline.
Fashion (Thai textile, designer, OTOP)	8%	Thai textile heritage, designer pipelines, OTOP.
Music (mor lam, Thai pop, BL OSTs)	7%	BL drama OSTs travel with content; mor lam Isan.
Fight (Muay Thai gyms, IFMA path)	7%	Muay Thai global gym franchise; IFMA Olympic-recognition path.
Design (CEA hubs, design weeks)	5%	TCDC, Bangkok and Chiang Mai Design Weeks, Isan Creative Festival.
Game (Thai indie studios, e-sports)	4%	Smallest absolute base; BOI digital-content incentives.
Book (publishing, translation grants)	3%	Translation grant pipeline; Bangkok Book Fair.
Art (BACC, galleries, biennale)	2%	BACC, Bangkok Art Biennale, Thailand Biennale touring.

THACCA framing, MoC briefings, CEA, BOI

Data as of: 2026 indicative

Analyst framing

Why this report

THACCA, OFOS, and the 11-industry frame are the operating system of Thailand's soft-power agenda through 2027. This report rebuilds the architecture from primary briefings, benchmarks it against KOCCA and the British Council, and maps the realistic commercial channels (food, Muay Thai, festival, BL drama) where Thai soft power actually monetises.

Operator playbooks

THACCA (Thailand Creative Culture Agency) sits under the Prime Minister's Office as the central coordination layer for the 11-industry agenda. Its first-wave instruments include the Thailand Film Council, content production funds, international co-production support, festival programming (TCCF Thailand Creative Content Fair), and the formal architecture for OFOS workforce delivery. Strategically: THACCA is the agency, not the funder of last resort — the actual cheques still flow through line ministries.

Ministry of Commerce Soft Power Office handles the trade-promotion side — market development for Thai food, Thai entertainment, fashion, wellness and creative services. Its work translates cultural visibility into commercial export pipelines via DITP (Department of International Trade Promotion) trade fairs, retail-introducer programmes, and brand-export framing for SMEs.

Creative Economy Agency (CEA, under MoC) is the pre-existing creative-economy public organisation that THACCA inherits and coordinates with on design, festival, and creative-industry data. CEA operates TCDC hubs in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Khon Kaen, runs Bangkok Design Week, Chiang Mai Design Week, and Isan Creative Festival, and supplies the creative-GDP and creative-export numbers that feed THACCA's measurement framework.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is the soft-power tourism multiplier arm — festival branding (Songkran, Loy Krathong), gastronomy tourism, BL fan-tourism corridors (Bangkok studio tours, drama-location pilgrimages), Muay Thai gym-tourism (Phuket, Bangkok, Krabi). TAT supplies the visitor-arrival and expenditure data that quantifies the tourism dimension of the 2027 measurement triangle.

Department of Cultural Promotion (under MoCulture) coordinates the Songkran UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage framework (2023 inscription), traditional-festival regulation (Loy Krathong, Yi Peng), and cultural-export programmes alongside MFA cultural-diplomacy. MFA cultural-diplomacy operates Thai film and food festivals at embassies, the Thai Studies academic network, and Songkran-abroad programming.

OFOS rollout mechanics

One Family One Soft Power (OFOS) targets the upskilling of 20 million Thais by 2027 — the headline figure roughly equivalent to one trained adult per Thai household. The programme is delivered through three channels: (i) community learning centres and Provincial Administration Organisations for face-to-face training in cooking, fabric craft, basic culinary management; (ii) vocational institutes and Rajamangala universities for film, game, design, and music production tracks; (iii) online and blended platforms for scale, including a portal that issues digital credentials.

Cohort design follows the 11 industries — Thai-cuisine cohorts are the largest single bucket given the existing chef-export footprint and the global demand for Thai-restaurant labour. Muay Thai instructor certification, Thai-massage and wellness, design and craft, and entry-level film and game production make up the remaining cohorts. The intent is that OFOS-trained workers become either domestic supply for inbound tourists or expatriate labour for Thai restaurants, Muay Thai gyms, and creative studios abroad.

Execution risk is the single largest watch-item. Twenty million trainees by 2027 implies an average run-rate of around 5-6 million Thais entering a credentialed track each year from 2024 — an order of magnitude above any prior workforce-upskilling programme. The realistic outturn is more likely a 10-12 million cumulative figure with the headline target reframed by 2026 budget cycle.

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