The cabinet has approved a plan to extend visa exemptions for tourists from India and Taiwan for six more months, as the country seeks to boost the number of foreign arrivals to shore up the sluggish economy.
Tourists from India and Taiwan will be able to enter Thailand without a visa until Nov 11 after an existing waiver ends on Friday, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Travellers can stay for a maximum of 30 days at a time under the rules.
The temporary extension follows the success of the initial waiver in November last year. Indian and Taiwanese tourists are normally eligible to stay in Thailand for 15 days under a visa-on-arrival scheme.
The country has been relaxing visa rules for travellers from some of its main markets including China and Russia. In the first four months of 2024, Thailand welcomed more than 12 million foreign tourists, representing a 39% increase from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
The largest groups of visitors — those from China, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea and India — accounted for half of the total arrivals this year.
Tourism is one of the country's key industries accounting for about 20% of total jobs and making up about 12% of the 18-trillion-baht economy. The Srettha administration has set a goal of attracting 80 million tourists a year by 2027 — double the pre-pandemic record set in 2019.