Thailand and China will permanently waive visa for citizens of the two countries

Chatrudee Theparat

Thailand and China will permanently waive visa for citizens of the two countries by starting on March 1 this year.

The two governments hope to boost tourism between the two countries. Prime Minister Sreetha Thavisin said the two sides have agreed to start such an initiative on coming 1 March.

Previously, the government has allowed Chinese tourists to enjoy free entry into Thailand for a 30-day stay between September 25, 2023 to February 29, 2024, totalling a five-month period.

Prime Minister Sreetha Thavisin

On the Chinese side, its government previously offered free temporary entry for a 15-day stay for a one-year period to six citizens from Malaysia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Netherland.

Mr Sreetha asked related agencies to show readiness to welcome such a move and urged them to provide good services to Chinese visitors.

Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said the ministry’s statistics showed the number of foreign tourists in 2023 reached 28.04 million from 25-28 million in target. For its tourism revenue, its figure was slightly disappointed, with 1.2 trillion baht in 2023 from 1.6 trillion baht as expected previously.

Of the total foreign tourists arrivals, Malaysians topped the rank with 4.56 million; followed by 3.51 million Chinese, 1.65 million South Korean; 1.62 million Indians and 1.48 million Russians.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects to have 25-28 million foreign visitors this year, spending 1.6 trillion baht in tourism revenue.

Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said TAT needs to adopt heavily marketing programmes to Chinese visitors because there is the big number of Chinese people have yet travelled abroad. TAT expected to have 8 million Chinese visitors to Thailand this year, while ATTA estimated its Chinese number at 6-7 million.

“ATTA will monitor a trend of Chinese visitors to Thailand during the coming Chinese festival. If there are full reservations for aviation seats or additional chartered flights, it will be better signs of a comeback of Chinese visitors.”

Mr Sreetha said the cabinet also approved to restructure excise tax of liquor while local spirit will be waived to zero percent. The Excise Department is required to revise related laws in order to promote local spirits and tourism.