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The Mall Group is stepping up its push for foreign tourist spending ahead of the year-end high season, bringing together tourism, digital finance and the retail experience through three platforms: THIM, Wi Wallet and WORPT. Together they cover the entire visitor journey — from accessing shopping privileges before travel, to more payment options while shopping, to spending digital assets once converted into baht, subject to each service's terms and conditions. The aim is to remove barriers to spending, unlock greater business value from international visitors and enhance the shopping experience through the year-end festive season.
As Thai tourism policy increasingly prioritises the economic value generated by visitors rather than arrival numbers alone, The Mall Group sees a key opportunity in converting visitor traffic into actual spending. While tourists arrive with a clear appetite to shop, payment limitations can still hold them back, particularly visitors without a Thai bank account, or those unable to conveniently use their home country's digital payment services in Thailand.
This underlines a key challenge for the retail sector: adapting payment systems to the behaviour and needs of visitors from diverse markets. Data collected across The Mall Group's department stores shows that roughly 15% of spending is made in cash, 19% via QR payment and the remaining 66% by credit card. QR payments are on a clear upward trend, while cash use is declining. Beyond cash and credit cards, foreign tourists can also pay via Thai QR PromptPay under Bank of Thailand policy, either through participating financial institutions in their home countries or through various payment applications.
As one of Thailand's leading retail developers, The Mall Group is therefore focusing on making life easier for tourists by connecting every touchpoint — from pre-trip planning and access to privileges, through to payment options suited to visitors from many countries — via three platforms:
Before travel: THIM THIM is the official application of the Immigration Bureau, developed to let foreign travellers complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) before departure. It scans passports using OCR and NFC technology and supports group submissions of up to 20 people. The app has been downloaded more than 800,000 times. Users can view Tourist Card privileges and shopping vouchers from Paragon Department Store and EM DISTRICT while still planning their trip.
While shopping: Wi Wallet Wi Wallet is an e-money wallet operated by Wipay Co Ltd under the supervision of the Bank of Thailand. Users can top up with Visa, Mastercard, JCB or UnionPay cards and then scan to pay via Thai QR (PromptPay) just as Thai residents do, or spend using the Wi Wallet Visa Prepaid Card in physical or virtual form. Its main users come from China, Malaysia, Russia, Taiwan, the United States, Singapore and France.
Digital assets: WORPT In addition, The Mall Group has become the first department store to accept payment for goods and services through the conversion of digital assets into baht, as a partner of WORPT. The partnership offers a new option for digital-asset holders. WORPT enables foreign tourists to convert supported stablecoins — USDT and USDC — into baht through licensed operators, then spend via Thai QR Payment or a Visa Prepaid Card. Merchants receive payment in baht as usual.
WORPT is a collaboration between Waan Exchange Co Ltd (Waanx), which was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sept 25, 2026, to participate in the Tourist DigiPay Sandbox, and Wipay Co Ltd, an e-money service provider licensed by the Bank of Thailand. The platform targets foreign tourists who hold digital assets — a new source of purchasing power.
The Mall Group has prepared a range of tourist privileges to welcome the high season and year-end shopping festivities. Foreign tourists of all nationalities can receive a Sawasdee Bag worth 390 baht simply by showing their passport. Users of the THIM, WORPT and Wi Wallet apps can instantly claim a Tourist Card and vouchers for Paragon Department Store and EM DISTRICT, along with a 150-baht discount coupon on purchases of 1,500 baht or more at Paragon Department Store and EM DISTRICT. In addition, shoppers spending 1,000 baht or more at EM DISTRICT shopping centres will instantly receive a 100-baht EM DISTRICT voucher.
The Mall Group is running a special promotion from November 1–30, 2026 to mark Diwali, the peak travel and shopping period of the year for Indian tourists. Shoppers spending 8,000 baht or more per day at Paragon Department Store and EM DISTRICT will receive a 500-baht M Cash Coupon, while those spending 100,000 baht or more per day at EM DISTRICT shopping centres will receive a 3,000-baht EM DISTRICT Cash Coupon.
