As the nation works to fully restore its tourism business after the Covid outbreak, Thailand is getting ready to adopt a law giving temporary visa-free admission to Chinese visitors. Srettha Thavisin, the prime minister of Thailand, said that travellers from Kazakhstan will also be eligible for the visa exemption, which will take effect from September 25 through February 29 of the following year.
Nearly 11 million visitors from China travelled to Thailand in 2019, accounting for 27.6% of total arrivals in the year before the Covid epidemic. In the first half of this year, according to Thailand’s tourism administration, 1.4 million Chinese visitors arrived.
Approximately 40 million foreign tourists to Thailand in 2019 helped the nation earn 1.9 trillion baht ($53.2 billion) in income, which helped Thailand’s economy recover from the epidemic. According to figures from the Thai government, this sum has now fallen by more than 99% by 2021.
Thailand welcomed 15 million foreign tourists in the first seven months of this year, according to Chai Wacharonke, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office. Speaking highly of the visa waiver programme and stating that the tourist sector is “the only economic machine remaining that can be driven with hope to generate new income quickly for Thailand.”
