The share price of Minor International Public Company Limited (SET: MINT) has surged to the highest level since July 2024 in response to rising number of international travellers in the first two months of 2025, cementing its growth potential this year.
In February 2025, Thailand’s economy showed signs of improvement, driven by tourism and consumption, with exports rising 12.9% and imports up 7.5%. However, some sectors, like SMEs and certain manufacturing industries, faced pressures due to declining competitiveness. Thailand’s consumer confidence index (CCI) reached 54.6 in February, showing stability following a slight uptick in the previous month.
MINT settled at THB 29.50 per share with a gain of 2.61%. The share price has risen 23% since the beginning of February as the hype of The White Lotus season 3 was picking up. The show features Blackpink’s Lisa (Lalisa Manobal) playing a character named Mook, a health mentor at a Thai resort.
The social satire drama filmed in several of MINT’s Southern Thailand hotels, including those on Samui Island and Phuket. This media exposure has propelled average daily rates (ADR) by over 40% as set-jetters flock to experience these stunning Thai locales. The global broadcast of the series has attracted a wave of affluent tourists, enhancing spending in MINT’s offerings.
Read: Minor International Thrives through Asset-light and Franchising Model as World’s Leading Hotel Group
According to Sprout Social, a social media management platform, the name of the TV series, “The White Lotus,” was mentioned nearly 1,385,000 times on social media by nearly 500,000 unique authors from February 16-26, 2025. More importantly, the posts that specifically mention Thailand have garnered 99% positive engagements.
Thailand’s Tourism Ministry announced that from January 1 to March 2 of this year, foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand increased by 5.9% compared to the same period a year ago. The total number of foreign visitors during this period was 7 million, with 1.1 million arrivals from China, as reported by the ministry.
Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council, in its February forecast, projected that there would be 38 million foreign tourists visiting Thailand in the year 2025. This estimate comes after Thailand welcomed nearly 40 million visitors in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.
Last month, Kasikorn Securities offered an optimistic outlook on Minor International (SET: MINT) following the analysts meeting after the company reported robust earnings for its 2024 operations along with strong guidance for the next three years.
The firm reiterated its “Buy” recommendation for MINT with a target price of Bt43.02, representing 55% upside from the closing price of Bt27.75 per share on Monday. The positive outlook is based on MINT’s strategy to increase operating leverage through the asset-light model. The stock is currently trading at a PER (Price-to-Earnings Ratio) of 18.1x for 2024 and 15.9x for 2025.
