Thailand has decided to extend the temporary elimination of visas to Taiwan and India, after doing the same with China and Kazakhstan and extending the conditions to Russian travelers, in an attempt to stimulate tourism and return to pre-pandemic levels.
The Thai Government will eliminate visas for Taiwanese and Indian tourists, with permission to be in the country for 30 days, from November 10 to May 10 of next year, according to a statement from the Executive.
Until now, most of the countries whose tourists do not require a visa in Thailand, one of the largest tourist powers in the world, were European and Asian – and others such as Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Peru -, but they did not include the Asian giants China and India.
Recently, the authorities also eliminated the need for a visa for Chinese travelers, who before the COVID-19 pandemic represented the largest nationality of visitors, effective between September 25 and February 29.
In the case of Russian tourists, the Thai cabinet decided in October to extend from 30 to 90 days the time they can stay in the country without needing to apply for a visa.
The Thai government will weigh the impact of these measures to consider whether to permanently exempt visas for some of these countries, a government spokesperson explained after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The Thai authorities remain neutral in the rivalry between the United States and China and also with Russia, which they demonstrated last month by inviting President Vladimir Putin to visit the tourist island of Pukhet (South).
Thailand It received almost 40 million visitors in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, of which a third were Chinese tourists, compared to just over 11 million who arrived in 2022.
Between January and September this year, Thailand welcomed 20 million tourists, mainly from Malaysia (3.30 million), China (2.49 million), South Korea (1.19 million), India (1.16 million) and Russia (more than 991,000).
For this year, the country estimates to reach between 25 and 30 million tourists by 2023, which represents between 60% and 75% of the travelers who arrived before the global health crisis, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Source: Gestion
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