Call to cut visa-free length of stay
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Call to cut visa-free length of stay

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Foreign tourists at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Tourism operators have urged the government to reduce the length of stay in the visa-free scheme for Chinese travellers to 15 days. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)
Foreign tourists at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Tourism operators have urged the government to reduce the length of stay in the visa-free scheme for Chinese travellers to 15 days. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)

Tourism operators have asked the government to slash the visa-free length of stay for Chinese tourists to address concerns over illegal employment, while the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) urged the government to solve transnational crimes and scams.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said on Monday that the case of Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured by scammers to Myanmar via the Thai border, had led local tourism operators to become more concerned about foreign scammers who have been exploiting the visa-free scheme, which at present provides a 60-day stay in Thailand.

She said the private sector wanted the government to consider reducing the length of stay from 60 days to 15 days, which is more suitable when considering the actual average length of stay for the Chinese market.

Ms Thapanee said that if the government agrees with this proposal, the Chinese market in general should not be affected as these visitors tend to travel more frequently with seven to 10 days for each trip, rather than taking a long holiday.

However, while some parties in the private sector also asked the government to cancel the permanent visa-free programme, the TAT disagreed with this solution as it would not help solve the issue.

Ms Thapanee said the agency has not yet officially forwarded this proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but as the TAT board's committee also includes a representative from the Foreign Ministry, this topic would be discussed soon at the next meeting.

"Maintaining visa-free stays for Chinese still benefits the tourism industry rather than creating a negative impact, particularly opportunities to boost the number of tourists and flights from China's second-tier cities with convenient entry," she said.

The Tourism Ministry is targeting 8.8 million to 9 million Chinese tourists this year, out of 39 million to 40 million foreign tourists in total.

According to the Thai Hotels Association (THA), 4,572 room nights booked by Chinese tourists in hotels across Thailand were cancelled in January, with Bangkok recording 2,001 cancelled room nights.

The negative sentiment about safety in Thailand also impacted other foreign markets, with 7,856 room nights being cancelled.

Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, TCT's vice-president, said the safety concerns had affected not only the Chinese market, but also other Asian travellers, who are more sensitive to this factor than tourists from Western nations.

Mr Ratchaporn said during a discussion with TAT last week that the TCT had proposed establishing a "Chinese-friendly" standard for operators, partnering with the Thailand-China Tourism Association, which has already approved a list of 200 tourism companies guaranteed with safety standards.

"In the long run, the government must seriously solve scams and human trafficking issues to prevent similar impacts in the future," he added.

Mr Ratchaporn said the government should also bring back international concerts, as it had already cancelled events such as Hong Kong singer Eason Chan's planned concert, in an effort to restore confidence among fan clubs and their members.

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