Tourism operators want the government to reintroduce a visa fee waiver scheme in a bid to boost Chinese and Indian arrivals within this year after experiencing tepid recovery in several key markets.
Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said a visa fee waiver scheme should be applied to potential countries with huge populations, such as China and India, as tourists now mostly stayed in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
"Although Thailand has already gained more tourists with high spending power, many hotels are dependent on budget travellers and large tour groups," said Mrs Marisa.
Since India has overtaken China as the world's most populous country with a growing workforce, this could be an opportunity for Thailand to draw more Indian tourists and encourage them to travel to other cities.
She said diverse segments can benefit hotel businesses at all scales as Indian tourists travelled with different purposes, such as leisure independent tourists, incentive groups, wedding groups and those seeking adventure tours or health and wellness services.
Mrs Marisa said the government should also consider extending the eligible period of stay for tourist visa and visa-on-arrivals.
Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said the fee waiver would help boost the Chinese market, which is now facing slow growth due to a tepid economy and visa application obstacles.
Mr Sisdivachr said once the government is formed, it should immediately introduce the visa fee waiver scheme for three months at the minimum, as seen in 2014 and 2018.
He said Chinese visitors still face challenges, chiefly the slow visa approval which takes more than 10 days, discouraging large tour groups from visiting.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is assisting the consulates in the pre-screening process in order to reduce the waiting time.
Siriges-a-nong Trirattanasongpol, TAT director of the New Delhi office, said an increase in tax collection for outbound packages from India, up from 5% to 20% starting from October, could impact market growth this year.
The air service agreement between Thailand and India which limits flight capacity to only 39,000 seats per week to six cities in India also poses a challenge.
The TAT predicts 1.5-1.6 million Indian tourists this year, a drop from the target of 2 million set earlier.
As of July 16, Thailand had received over 14 million foreign tourists, with Chinese tourists tallying 1.6 million and 826,000 Indian tourists.