MELBOURNE
Thai-market marketing for Melbourne businesses, venues and community groups
Thailand sent 98,410 visitors to Australia in 2025, up 2% on the year, and 35% of them visited Victoria (Tourism Research Australia). Greater Melbourne is home to 17,360 people born in Thailand (ABS 2021 Census), and Victoria has more than 700,000 small businesses. Between them sit three groups with the same gap: Thai-language marketing that Thai customers actually read.
PHYGITAL AGENCY COMPANY LIMITED is a full-service marketing agency in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We have no office, staff or clients in Australia. What we do is the Thai end: the Thai-language content, the social platforms Thai people really use, the influencers they trust and the way they search. This page uses public data to show what Melbourne businesses can do with a Thai team on three fronts: reaching Thai visitors and the Thai community in Melbourne; selling into Thailand from a Melbourne base; and communicating in Thai with staff or customers. It is written for local venues and brands, larger companies, tourism and community bodies, and small businesses hiring an agency for the first time.
Melbourne and Thailand at a glance (public data)
Numbers first, then the work. Each figure names its source and year.
98,410 Thai visitors to Australia in 2025, 35% to Victoria
Tourism Research Australia counted 98,410 visitors from Thailand in 2025, up 2% on 2024, making Thailand Australia’s 18th largest inbound market. Visitors from Thailand spent about A$459.9 million, around A$5,040 each. By state, 42% visited New South Wales and 35% visited Victoria, and 88% stayed in a capital city or the Gold Coast (Tourism Research Australia, Thailand market profile, 2025).
Why they come: holidays, family and study
In the same profile, 44% of Thai visitors travelled for a holiday, 33% to visit friends and relatives and 9% for education (the all-market average for education is 7%). Sixty-nine per cent travelled solo, against 54% of all international visitors. What they do once there: 90% eat out at a restaurant or cafe, 83% go shopping for pleasure and 49% go to markets, and 68% are on a return trip (same profile). A visitor who is travelling alone or visiting family decides on a restaurant, a shop or a tour from what they can read on a phone, in Thai.
17,360 people born in Thailand live in Greater Melbourne
The 2021 Census counted 17,360 Thailand-born people in Greater Melbourne and 21,059 in Victoria, out of 83,779 across Australia. In Greater Melbourne, 12,254 gave Thai as their ancestry and 66.1% reported Buddhism as their religion (ABS 2021 Census QuickStats). Thai-owned restaurants, grocers, salons and community groups serve this population every day, and many do their marketing in English only.
More than 700,000 small businesses in Victoria
On 30 June 2023 Victoria had 701,061 small businesses, 28% of Australia’s total (ASBFEO, from ABS data). Nationally, 2,656,469 of 2,729,648 businesses, or 97.3%, had fewer than 20 employees in June 2025 (ASBFEO, ABS Counts of Australian Businesses). Most Melbourne businesses are small, and most have never hired a Thai-language team.
Free trade with Thailand
Under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement, all tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on Australian goods to Thailand were eliminated in 2025 (DFAT). Lower duties do not make a product easy to find: a Thai shopper still needs a Thai listing, Thai reviews and a reason to choose it.
The time difference is small
Melbourne is 4 hours ahead of Thailand while daylight saving is on (October to April) and 3 hours ahead for the rest of the year, so a morning call in Melbourne lands in the early morning or the evening of the previous day in Chiang Mai. Working hours overlap.
Who this page is for
Different Melbourne organisations hire a Thai team for different reasons.
Local venues, Thai-community businesses and tourism operators
Restaurants, cafes, grocers, salons, tour operators, accommodation and retailers in Melbourne that want Thai visitors and the Thai community to find them in Thai, whatever their size.
Local brands and global companies with a Melbourne head office
Marketing teams that need Thai-language content, ads, influencers and market research for a Thailand launch. If you already have a Thai subsidiary, factory or distributor, we work alongside it.
Tourism bodies, councils, universities and community groups
Organisations that want more Thai visitors, students or event attendees. We start from public data on who travels and why, then plan Thai social, video and influencer work. We can supply quotes and specifications for procurement.
Small businesses hiring an agency for the first time
You do not need a big budget or marketing experience. We would like to learn how Melbourne businesses work, and build a relationship rather than take one-off orders. A single Thai page or one social post is a fine place to start.
What we do for Melbourne businesses
A Thai team runs the Thai end of all three.
1. Reach Thai visitors and the Thai community in Melbourne
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Google ads aimed at people in Thailand who are planning a trip, and at Thai speakers already in Melbourne; Thai travel and food influencers; Thai-language menus, signage, web pages and video subtitles; a LINE Official Account for Thai visitors; and Thai replies to Google Maps reviews. With 33% of Thai visitors coming to see family and friends, Thai-language content also reaches the people who host them.
2. Sell into Thailand from Melbourne
Thai consumer research and competitor analysis, a Thai-language website and SEO, ads and content for Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, Thai social media, and events with your Thai distributor or subsidiary. We report in English each month.
3. Communicate in Thai with staff and customers
Translation and localisation of company profiles, staff handbooks, safety notices and training material into Thai that Thai employees read every day, not word-for-word translation; Thai subtitles for training video; and proofreading of Thai you already have.
How we work with Melbourne
To be chosen, you first have to be found in Thai, then give people a reason to choose you.
Before the trip: be found on Thai social media and search
In the free first consultation we check how many of your customers are Thai, what Thai reviews of you exist on Google Maps, and what is being said in Thai about Melbourne. Ads aimed at Thailand and Thai creators’ videos reach people while they are planning, not after they land.
In Melbourne: Thai that reads naturally
Thai menus, signs, pages and a LINE Official Account in place before a visitor searches, so the answer they find is in Thai. Written by people who live and work in Thailand, in the words Thai people use now.
In Thailand: one team for the Thai side
For Melbourne head offices we manage Thai content, ads, SEO and influencers and work with your Thai operation. First talks and written communication are in English, serious meetings can have an interpreter, the contract is in English, and we invoice in US dollars with a Thai tax invoice, paid by bank transfer.
What we do not do
We have no office in Melbourne
No office or staff in Australia. Work that has to happen on site, such as shooting in a venue, relies on material you supply or a local partner.
We do not guarantee visitor numbers
We cannot guarantee visits or sales. We do the Thai-side work in a measurable way and report the results as they are.
We do not buy Australian media
We run Meta, Google and TikTok campaigns. Australian-only media and placements are outside our services.
Why hand Melbourne’s Thai market to PHYGITAL AGENCY
We know where Thai visitors go and what they want
Every figure on this page is public data with its source and year. You are talking to a company that works in Thai every day.
The Thai end is run by a Thai team
Thai copy, Thai influencers and Thai-platform ads are written and run by people who live and work in Thailand.
Learn together
We want to learn how Melbourne businesses work. First-time agency clients can start small and build up as results come in.
Honest about our track record
We have no public Australian client cases yet, so we start from more than seven years of work in Thailand and from public data, and we say plainly what we can and cannot do.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Yes, because choice is wide. Tourism Research Australia counted 98,410 Thai visitors in 2025 and 35% of them visited Victoria. Thai visitors and residents pick a restaurant or a tour from what they can read in Thai on social media, search and Google Maps. A business with nothing in Thai is simply not in their shortlist.
In 2025, 44% came for a holiday, 33% to visit friends and relatives and 9% for education, and 69% travelled solo (Tourism Research Australia). They spent about A$459.9 million in total, around A$5,040 per visitor. Ninety per cent eat out and 83% shop for pleasure (same profile), so if your business sells meals, retail, tours or accommodation, Thai content connects directly to what they are already buying.
With the free first consultation, where we look at your product, who would buy it in Thailand and where Thai shoppers look for it. Typical first steps are a Thai-language page or website, Thai SEO, and a small test on Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop or Facebook. Under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement, tariffs on Australian goods were eliminated in 2025 (DFAT), but Thai shoppers still need a Thai listing and a reason to trust you.
Melbourne is 4 hours ahead of Thailand during daylight saving (October to April) and 3 hours ahead for the rest of the year. Working hours overlap for most of the day, so meetings are easy to schedule.
Yes. We start from public data on who travels from Thailand and why, then run Thai social, video and influencer work. We can supply quotes and specifications to fit a procurement process.
Advertising management starts at US$400 a month (ad spend is separate), and other services are quoted in US dollars. The contract is in English and we issue a Thai tax invoice for every payment; payment is by bank transfer to our Thai account. First talks are in English and serious meetings can have an interpreter.
Source: Tourism Research Australia: Thailand market profile
Make Thai visitors your customers
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