Thailand and China have permanently eliminated the visa requirement for their respective citizens as of March 1, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced this Tuesday.
This agreement “raises the level of relationship“between both nations, highlighted the Thai president during a press conference in Bangkok after the Cabinet meeting.
A government spokesperson told the media that this visa exemption will be in effect for 30 days of travel and will apply to multiple entries although the total period of stay cannot exceed 90 days within 180 days (or 6 months). .
The second economy in Southeast Asia, where the tourism sector is one of the main economic drivers, implemented a visa-exempt program in September to Chinese travelers and that it was to end at the end of February.
Despite the initial impetus given by this plan, during 2023 more than 3.4 million Chinese tourists arrived in Thailand, a figure below the official goal set and far from the almost 11 million visitors ofThe neighboring country that arrived in 2019, and surpassed by arrivals from Malaysia.
In the year that has just concluded, around 28 million foreign tourists visited Thailand, a figure that reached the objective set for the recovery of the sector. after the covid-19 pandemic.
Since Srettha came to government in August, his Executive has promoted several measures aimed at promoting tourism, including visa exemptions for travelers from Kazakhstan, India and Taiwan, similar to the one still in force with China.
By 2024, the Ministry of Tourism foresees a more robust recovery of the sector with the arrival of some 35 million international tourists, including 8.2 million from China.
In 2019, before the global health crisis, Thailand reached close to 40 million tourists, of which Chinese citizens accounted for more than 25 percent of the total, and its sector represented between 12 and 20 percent of the gross domestic producer.
EFE
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