© Reuters. Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin gives souvenirs to Chinese tourists during a welcome ceremony of the first batch of Chinese tourists under a five-month visa-free entry scheme at Bangkok’s International Airport, Thailand, September 25, 2023. REU
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Friday the government plans to offer visa-free travel to citizens of several more countries.
Thailand has recently waived visas for citizens of China and India to boost tourism, a key driver of Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.
The visa-free programme for China has helped stimulate the economy “quite a lot”, he said.
“Not just for China, we’ll continue to do this with several more countries,” he said without elaborating.
From Jan. 1 to Feb. 11, Thailand received 4.39 million foreign tourist arrivals, up 48% from a year earlier, with China the top source market.
The government expects about 34-35 million foreign visitors this year, up from about 28 million last year. There were a record of nearly 40 million foreign visitors in pre-pandemic 2019.
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