Thai Prime Minister to Meet with BLACKPINK Lisa Soon

Lisa is reportedly arranging her schedule to meet with the Prime Minister. Last July, the idol also visited Koh Samui in Surat Thani Province to film the third season of The White Lotus. A recent 6-second teaser released by HBO showcased stunning images of Thailand and Muay Thai—a martial art considered one of the country’s soft powers. In addition to Lisa, the show features several other Thai actors, including Dom Hetrakul, Patravadi Mejudhon, and Maethi Thapthimthong.

The film is expected to attract more tourists to Thailand when it airs in 2025. According to the travel site Agoda, hotel bookings in Koh Samui in June this year increased by 26% compared to the same period last year following news of Lisa’s role.

Last month, scenes for the TV series Alien: Earth were filmed in Samut Prakan, and the upcoming Jurassic World 4 was also shot in Thailand, specifically in Krabi and Trang.

A source close to the Thai Prime Minister revealed that the government plans to enhance measures to promote film production in the country. Specifically, they plan to increase the rebate from 15-20% to 20-30% for projects over 100 million baht and raise the maximum rebate from 75 million baht to 150 million baht per film.

According to the Tourism Authority, Thailand earned 3.13 billion baht from renting out locations to foreign film crews in 2018. This figure increased to 4.86 billion baht in 2019 and 5 billion baht in 2021.

Filmmakers from Greece, Malaysia, South Africa, Georgia, Colombia, India, the Philippines, South Korea, and Australia have benefited from these incentives for 43 films from 2017 to October 31, 2022.