Thailand likely to relax visa rules to extend tourists’ stay ahead of Winter Festival

With the start of the holiday season, tourism-dependent Thailand is planning countless cultural and sporting events and is also considering relaxing visa rules to attract tourists.

Sletta, who announced the winter festival last week, said celebrations such as the Loy Krathong festival, Bangkok Marathon and New Year’s Day are planned. The event aims to showcase Thailand’s unique culture and attract tourists during the high season from November to January.

Elaborating on this, Prime Minister Suretta Thavisin’s chief of staff Plomin Lerzlije said in an interview earlier this week that Thailand will allow some European tourists to stay for up to 90 days, as quoted by Bloomberg. He said plans are being discussed.

“We will organize more attractions and promotions to encourage tourists to stay longer,” said Prime Minister’s Secretary-General Plomin. “Longer stays, more events to attract tourists, and a more exciting nightlife scene. This is how we do it.”We plan to get tourists to spend more. ”

“About 3,000 events such as music concerts, marathons and other cultural festivals will also be held until next year to attract tourists.”

Immediately after taking office as Prime Minister, Mr. Sletta took steps to promote domestic tourism.

It temporarily waived visa requirements for travelers from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, India and Taiwan and ordered airlines to add routes while streamlining airport operations to reduce wait times for travelers. At the same time, the government may announce an extension of night-time operating hours for nightlife entertainment venues in some areas of Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chonburi starting next month.

In 2019, the country had record foreign arrivals (almost 40 million), generating revenue of 1.91 trillion baht. According to official data, each tourist spent an average of 47,895 baht on an average nine-day trip that year. As of November 12 this year, Thailand received 23.2 million foreign tourists, with foreign tourist revenue amounting to 981.7 billion baht. This means they are currently about 12% below the 2019 per-trip spending threshold, the Bloomberg report said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has set a goal to return foreign tourism receipts to pre-COVID-19 levels, aiming for at least 2 trillion baht ($57 billion) in 2024.