Thailand plans to waive visas for more countries

THAILAND’S Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Friday (Feb 16) that 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 South-east 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 4.4 million foreign tourist arrivals, up 48 per cent from a year earlier, with China as the top source market.

The government expects about 34 million to 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. REUTERS