Thailand’s income from tourism this year is seen missing its $68.75bn target, with receipts dropping to $59.38bn
By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent/Bangkok
Thailand’s military–run government has doubled the days allowed to stay in the country on a visa-exempt stamp, which is granted to passport holders of 49 nations including Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Oman, but not Saudi Arabia. Visitors from these countries can now extend their stay to 60 days from 30 without much hassle.
To make use of the new regulation that came into effect on August 29, tourists in Thailand need to apply for the 30 additional days at an immigration office in the country where they will get an extension stamp right away, provided they pay 1,900 baht ($59) for the process.
The move is widely interpreted as an attempt to encourage travellers from these mostly “richer” countries (apart from the GCC mainly European nations, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, as well as South Africa) to spend more time and money in Thailand after the kingdom has seen tourism numbers drop following months of street protests and the coup d’état in May this year. Total numbers of foreign tourists were down by 10.47% in the period between January and July, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Numbers of visitors from some important Middle Eastern source countries also dropped by double-digit percentage figures.
TAT governor Thawatchai Aranyik estimated that Thailand’s income from tourism this year will miss its $68.75bn target, adding that receipts are expected to drop to $59.38bn. Instead of the originally expected 28mn tourists in 2014, the number could be just about 25.5mn, Aranyik said.
However, observers have noted that Thailand’s visa policy has always been quite incongruent and are wondering whether the new regulation will have the desired effect. First of all, the regulation comes in the low season with rain all over Thailand until October. Secondly, those who really want to stay longer in the “Land of Smiles” can simply apply for a 60-day tourist visa at the Thai embassy at home which at most embassies costs less than the fees for the above mentioned visa-exempt extension. Such a tourist visa can also be extended by 30 days in-country so that the total length of stay sums up to 90 days.
Furthermore, the Thai Immigration Bureau has just tightened the checks on so-called visa runners, people who stay long-term in Thailand by regularly crossing the border to a neighbouring country and returning with a new visa-exempt stamp or tourist visa, many of which got along with that for years. Such people, officially, would now be denied re-entry after two or three visa runs. However, it turned out that many of these visa runners are foreign English teachers desperately needed particularly at schools in rural areas in Thailand.
Noticing the negative effects of the regulation, the military government ordered the Immigration Bureau to be “flexible” with visa runners which basically means that most likely nothing will change apart from the fact that visa runners from 49 countries are now eligible for the 60-days visa-exempt rule as well.
Ironically, the TAT’s slogan for its 2015 campaign will be “Real Thainess” – focusing on Thai culture, the Thai way of life and “the Thai experience,” with governor Aranyik saying that he was “confident the tourism industry will fully recover next year on the back of political stability.”