Ever since languages became a part of human civilization as evidenced by written records in Ancient Egypt and digital languages on the back of cloud computing technology now, data have played a key role in the human race’s development. Generative AI is one clear amazing example of what data can do.
However, data utilization has largely been limited to the business sector to date. There have also been widespread debates on the utilization of public data for various purposes including the formulation of public policies. dataCon 2024, sponsored by True Corporation, has thus brought people from the data industry and aspiring change makers together in hopes of bettering society with data. Held at True Digital Park, this inspiring seminar addressed the topic of “Shaping the Future with Insights”.
Mobility Data for Tourism Policy
Asst. Prof. Dr. Nattapong Punnoi, lecturer at the Department of Urban & Regional Planning of the Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Architect, told the seminar that formulating a policy to promote 55 secondary cities in Thailand. The aim was to promptly revive tourism industry once the post-Covid-19 ended, while strategic frameworks of national tourism must be rethought for wealth distribution. Additionally, data collection on tourism activities were limited. To address those challenges, True-dtac and its allies – the Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission, Architecture Faculty, Boonmee Lab – joined forces to study “Tapping the Untapped: Rebuilding Thailand’s Domestic Tourism via Mobility Data”. The anonymously encrypted data revealed how people travel from their origin to their destination. Analyses therefore give insights that can be used to draw up the strategy to promote secondary cities’ tourism in three following aspects:
- Micro-Tourism or a day trip, which is perfect when the traveling distance is no more than 150 kilometers
- Trips including accommodation, which offer new experience, increase tourism spending, and extend the length of time tourists spend at their destination.
- Cluster-based tourism, which encourages tourists to visit many nearby provinces in one trip.
“We have surveyed people’s travel behaviors via mobility data, which show what provinces tourists traveled past to reach their main destination. From our survey, we have identified 19 clusters or groups of provinces. Of them, seven have high potential. Based on our findings, secondary provinces have been grouped into eight clusters because they can share routes and promotional activities. Promoting these provinces as a cluster can increase their income with tourists spending more time and more money within their cluster. The tourism industry is a key economic engine. But in the past, tourism income had been concentrated in just five provinces. If we promote secondary cities’ tourism potential, we will be able to boost employment there and attract people back to their home province. This should be a key policy for Thailand’s economic development,” Asst. Prof. Dr. Nattapong said.
Mobility Data can also be used for planning public services such as public transport and public healthcare, which have much significance during Thailand’s transition into an aged society.
“When backed by mobility data, public policies become practical. True Group, a member of the private sector, has noticed the opportunity to analyze data for efficiently planning promotional cell-phone service campaigns that can help spur tourism in secondary cities. Indeed, there are still lots of data that can be analyzed for the efficient formulation of policies on public services. The public and private sectors can shape the future with such insights,” Asst. Prof. Dr. Nattapong added.
Data-usage Challenges
Dr. Sommarat Chantarat, Executive Director of Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research, said there were now many sets of data. In addition to data compiled by various agencies, there are also digital footprints. Using such data for national policies, so far, requires comprehensive understanding of problems that the policies seek to address. Data used must also be insightful enough to roll out practical policies. This means it is necessary to ensure first that the data have been compiled over a long period of time from past to present; include details and are truly relevant.
Data analyses must also be done through the following five lenses:
- Macro but granular: While data must show the big picture, they must have details. Household-debt research by Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research, for example, may not be comprehensive enough because it relies mainly on data from the National Credit Bureau. In fact, it should go into details to determine where household debts are concentrated to determine vulnerable groups in urban zones, etc.
- Near real time: Using real-time or near-real-time data is practical. The United States, during COVID-19 crisis, fast got patient data based on data from financial apps.
- Longitudinal: Data should reflect the development of each generation. Tax data, for example, can tell if generational poverty prevails.
- Network/relationship: Systematic monitoring of data from PromptPay system, for instance, will identify links between the government and people, those among consumers, and those between consumers and the business sector.
- Observe the unobserved: Data will enable policymakers to see what they have never noticed before.
“Data may be compiled from different perspectives. The best policy formulation therefore should combine all lenses. It’s quite a challenge, though. Firstly, data are not always complete. To get complete data, the government and the private sectors must work closely together. Secondly, policymakers need to pay attention to data quality. Thirdly, government agencies and private organizations have not yet integrated their data. Fourthly, there is still limited data sharing. If we can overcome these challenges, data will be very useful to the formulation of public policies,” said Dr. Sommarat.
LINE MAN Wongnai’s business operations have long been data-driven. Its vice president for public affairs, Isriya Paireepairit, revealed that his company had gathered a massive volume of data with details from every transaction recorded. The company therefore has data reflecting Thais’ behaviors and restaurants’ business data, which were shared partially with the public to pave the way for the formulation of polices that support entrepreneurs especially small restaurant owners. For example, the company has released data from its restaurant surveys in Thailand. Its Single Dish (Kraprao Index) also shows food prices in comparison to inflation rates. Data from the company, moreover, reveals how much the government’s Half-Half or co-payment policy helped restaurants. Indeed, LINE MAN Wongnai has shared much data that the government can use for the formulation of meaningful public policies.
“I hope the government will attach importance to the governance of data usage, trade data, and personal data. It is important to lay down mechanisms or legal frameworks so that the private sector really knows how to use data without legal trouble. The move is also crucial to data sharing between the public and the private sectors,” Isriya concluded.
