True Corporation and CU Social Design Lab Win Creative Data Award at CEA 2026 for Routes to Roots Tourism Initiative

Brickinfo News Agency – True Corporation, in collaboration with the CU Social Design Lab at Chulalongkorn University and The Cloud, has developed the Routes to Roots initiative using anonymized mobile network mobility data to analyze traveler movement patterns across Thailand, earning the Creative Data Award at the Creative Excellence Awards 2026 hosted by the Creative Economy Agency (CEA).

The initiative addresses recent shifts in the tourism sector, where official statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports indicated a 3.05% decrease in tourist arrivals compared to the previous year. The project applies telecom data analytics to address structural challenges in tourism management, shifting focus toward equitable economic distribution and local community development across secondary destinations.

According to On-Uma Vattanasuk, Head of GCEO Strategic Agenda and Employee Communication at True Corporation Plc., telecommunications data assets offer significant utility for evidence-based public planning. The initiative analyzed aggregated mobility data to assist policymakers, researchers, and local communities in identifying travel behaviors and supporting regional economic strategies.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Nattapong Punnoi, Deputy Director of the CU Social Design Lab and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University, stated that researchers processed over 500 million trips from mobility data to move beyond conventional provincial boundaries. The analysis mapped actual travel corridors, identifying 21 high-potential tourism clusters and formulating six pilot clusters designed to align local cultural assets with sustainable travel planning.

The project translated analytical findings into actionable regional itineraries across six pilot clusters covering various regions of Thailand. Organized under the concept of evidence-based tourism development, the framework provides structured data models to assist government agencies and private stakeholders in decentralizing visitor traffic, distributing revenue, and managing tourism infrastructure effectively.