According to Thai Prime Minister Sretha Thavisin, Thailand and China have agreed to permanently abolish visa requirements for his or her residents from March this yr. The decision was announced at a press conference on Tuesday, January 2, during which Srettha expressed the need of each countries to open their doors to one another and welcome tourists. The visa waiver is seen as a lift to bilateral relations and can increase the worth of Thai passports.
The Thai government plans to sign a bilateral visa waiver agreement between the 2 countries by the top of February 2024, allowing Chinese residents to remain in Thailand for as much as 30 days on each entry, with multiple entries inside 180 days extending the stay to 90 days. days.
The decision follows Thailand’s earlier decision in September to exempt visas for Chinese nationals, a method geared toward boosting tourist visits, especially after Thailand’s attractiveness to Chinese tourists declined.
Over 22,000 Chinese nationals arrived in Thailand in the primary two days of the visa waiver, making them the second largest group of foreign visitors after Malaysia. The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s November forecast showed a goal of as much as 3.5 million visitors from China in 2023, although barely below the goal of 4 million. This continues to be a big increase in comparison with 2022, when only 270,000 Chinese tourists visited Thailand. This number continues to be lower than half of 2019’s figure of nearly 11 million Chinese tourists.
Factors similar to the dearth of low-cost flights after Covid-19 and the economic slowdown in China contributed to the decline in tourists’ interest in visiting Thailand. Security concerns, including rumors of tourist kidnappings and shootings in Bangkok, also make Chinese tourists feel uncomfortable.
Nevertheless, tourism authorities have set an ambitious goal of attracting 8.2 million Chinese tourists by 2024. To achieve this goal, Thailand has agreed to cut back taxes on alcoholic beverages and eliminate the ten% ad valorem tax on local varieties of rice wine.
The decision is predicted to spice up the event of the tourism sector, which is the backbone of Thailand’s economy and contributes about 20% of its GDP. Thailand is predicted to welcome 28 million international tourists in 2023, generating revenue of $34.93 billion.
